Jesse Ryder made a century as New Zealand's batsmen fought back impressively on day three of the first Test against India.

After resuming on 69 for two, overnight pair Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum put on 104 until they fell for 56 and 65 respectively.

And Ryder and Kane Williamson then put on 194 before Ryder, suffering with cramp, was dismissed in the final over of the day. Williamson remains in line for a potential century on his Test debut, closing on 87 not out with his side 331 for five.

Taylor, who brought up the 50 partnership in the fourth over of the day, was troubled by some short-pitched bowling from Zaheer Khan early on and was correctly given not out by umpire Steve Davis to a caught-behind appeal down the leg side which clipped his thigh pad.

A muscular drive off Shanthakumaran Sreesanth took McCullum to 49, before he reached 50 with an off-side single.

When the spinners entered the fray, the pair started to up the rate as the New Zealand total went past 100 and Taylor plundered successive boundaries off Harbhajan Singh.

He brought up his 50 with a cut off Harbhajan, but the bowler had his revenge soon after when the batsman came down the wicket only to pick out VVS Laxman at short mid-wicket.

And it got worse for the Black Caps as McCullum fell to a textbook stumping, Pragyan Ojha turning the ball past his outside edge and Mahendra Singh Dhoni whipping off the bails.

Williamson hammered the first ball after lunch for four but it was an otherwise quiet start to the session until the youngster also dispatched part-timer Virender Sehwag to the rope.

Rahul Dravid put down a sharp but relatively straightforward chance at slip as Ryder slashed loosely at Sreesanth. That shot continued to the boundary and Ryder repeated the dose later in the over.

The ever-fiery Sreesanth was warned for a beamer to Williamson, for which he immediately apologised, before Ryder had to play out a superb over from Harbhajan midway through the session. The spinner beat the edge and narrowly missed off stump with vicious turn before having an impassioned bat-pad appeal turned down next ball - replays suggested, at the very least, enough doubt to support umpire Kumar Dharmasena.

Harbhajan continued to test the burly left-hander, who responded by aggressively sweeping to the mid-wicket fence - a stroke mirrored by Williamson in the next over from Ojha.

With Ryder 43 not out, he was forced to call for a runner in the rather more lithe shape of Taylor, taking advantage of new rules introduced last month bracketing cramp alongside any other injury to a batsman.

Taylor was not required as Ryder reached his 50, though, the landmark coming up as he flat-batted a full toss from occasional spinner Sachin Tendulkar to the mid-wicket boundary. The half-century took 96 balls, unusually sedate for the big-hitting Ryder, and featured six boundaries.

He had to pull out of a pre-meditated sweep as Harbhajan flighted in a yorker but with little else to threaten the batsmen, Dhoni handed the new ball to Sreesanth and, surprisingly, Ojha two overs before tea.

No breakthrough was forthcoming, though, and a Williamson single took the partnership to exactly 100 at the interval.

Williamson went to 50 when he clipped Harbhajan to leg and raced through for two, perhaps making use of Taylor's mobility between the wickets.

The youngster's composure was impressive, impassively blowing bubbles of gum between deliveries, but he had a let-off when he appeared to edge a ball angled across him from Zaheer Khan. He looked straight round to see Dhoni take the catch and the Indians went up confidently, but umpire Dharmasena was absolutely unmoved.

Ojha beat Williamson with a superb delivery similar to that which saw McCullum dismissed, but the batsman kept his back foot in place.

Ryder then hoisted Harbhajan down the ground for the first six of the innings and Williamson deftly steered Harbhajan past leg slip for four before sweeping two off Ojha to bring up the 150 stand.

Ryder skied a tired sweep high into the leg side but saw the ball drop short of deep mid-wicket and then watched nervously as an uppish push flashed past short leg's outstretched hand.

But he swatted the first ball of the day's final over to the cover boundary to bring up his third Test century, celebrating joyously - only to be trapped in front of off stump by Sreesanth two balls later.

Shot of the Day
A frustrated Harbhajan Singh completed a maiden over to Ryder before taunting the oft-attacking left-hander by suggesting he hit over the top. The first ball of Harbhajan's next over was predictably tossed up and Ryder skipped down the track to lift high over long-on for six with characteristic cheek and execution.

Delivery of the Day
Harbhajan Singh matched Ryder with a similar delivery to the left-hander but didn't get a wicket. The Ball of the Day, therefore, belongs to Ojha for one much the same as the that which dismissed BJ Watling on Friday. A flighted, dipping delivery drew McCullum forward and the Kiwi opener was totally beaten, dragging his back foot out of his crease to be stumped.

Defining Moment of the Day
On 11, Ryder was still looking tentative at the crease, feeling his way back into Test cricket. Sreesanth tempted the left-hander with some width and Ryder chased hard, edging a sharp catch to Dravid's right. He got two hands to it but couldn't hold on to what would have been his 199th Test grab. 92 runs to Ryder later, Sreesanth finally got his man with the last ball of the day.