Why so many LBWs? Black Caps almost set record

India's Ravichandran Ashwin, left, celebrates with teammates the wicket of New Zealand's Tom Latham. Photo / AP

The scoreboard says it all. New Zealand LBWs 6. India LBWs 0.

The Black Caps fell one LBW short of the most in a test innings when they were bowled out for 262 in their first innings on day three of the opening test in Kanpur.

Four of the top five in the New Zealand order were trapped in front as Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (4-93) and Ravindra Jadeja (5-73) put their side in a commanding position with the hosts leading by 215 runs with nine wickets remaining.

Some of the dismisals were certainly debatable, mainly those of Luke Ronchi and Ish Sodhi, as New Zealand lost their last five wickets for seven runs.

Jadeja said the LBWs came about because the New Zealand batsmen were often in two minds.

"Batsmen who are not familiar with Indian or Asian conditions often cannot make up their mind which ball to defend and which one to attack," Jadeja said.

"By the time they got a hang of it, they had lost six-seven wickets."

Black Caps wicketkeeper BJ Watling was one of the four Black Caps batsmen not to be dismissed LBW - he was caught and bowled by Ashwin for 21.

Watling said the pitch had had his team guessing.

"Sometimes the ball spins here and sometimes it doesn't," he said.

"It's about the lines we play and we're working on that every day, trying to figure it out."

Watling had no issue with any of the LBW decisions.

"They [umpires Richard Kettleborough and Rod Tucker] have to make a call. It's the game of cricket, if they think it is out, it is out," he said.

Jadeja credited head coach and former spinner Anil Kumble for the way he approach the New Zealand batsmen.

"He told me when bowling to the left-hander, there was this rough where you'd have the sixth stump. He advised me to create an angle and deliver from wide of the crease.

"He said I should bowl as much as possible into that rough. After pitching there, some balls were going straight and some were turning. It put doubts in the batsmen's mind."