Kiwis held up by Kohli and co

Virat Kohli: reached the close just nine runs short of his century

Virat Kohli helped India battle back from the precarious position of 80-4 to close day two of the second Test against New Zealand on 283-5.

Kohli reached stumps on 93 not out as he and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (46 not out) put on an unbroken century stand to get the home team within sight of the Kiwis' first-innings total of 365 in Bangalore.

Suresh Raina had also helped India's recovery mission, making 55 from 90 deliveries in a crucial fifth-wicket partnership that put on 99 runs.

Having suffered a heavy loss in the first Test, New Zealand sensed the chance to get right back in the series when they had their opponents in early trouble.

Tim Southee bowled Gautam Gambhir for just two in the fourth over and then struck again at the end of the 10th, Cheteshwar Pujara - centurion in Hyderabad - hooking a delivery down to Trent Boult at fine leg.

Virender Sehwag (43) steadied things for the hosts for a while, but became the third wicket to fall when he flicked Doug Bracewell to Daniel Flynn at short midwicket.

Tendulkar castled

And the same bowler struck again two overs later to remove talisman Sachin Tendulkar, the veteran adding just 17 to India's total before being bowled.

However, Kohli and Raina - two of India's new generation of batsmen - steadied the ship in a crucial alliance either side of the tea break.

Although Raina was caught by wicketkeeper Kruger Van Wyk off the bowling of Southee (3-35), Kohli continued the rebuilding job alongside his captain; Dhoni hit five fours and two sixes to help add 104 in 27.3 overs, moving India to within 82 runs of the tourists at stumps.

New Zealand had resumed in the morning on 328-6 but any hopes they had of getting to 400 and beyond were dealt a serious blow when Zaheer Khan dismissed Van Wyk, having added just eight runs to his overnight total of 63.

A mix-up between Doug Bracewell and Tim Southee saw the former run out for a well-made 43, while Umesh Yadav made sure Jeetan Patel failed to trouble the scorers.

The innings came to a conclusion when Southee (14) was trapped leg before by Pragyan Ohja to become the left-armer's fifth-wicket.