A sharp spell of bowling by Tim Southee set up a 10-wicket victory for New Zealand before lunch on the fourth day of the first Test against India on Monday.

Southee took four wickets for 20 runs on the final morning as he raced through the India tail to leave them all out for 191.

It left the Black Caps a mere nine runs to beat the world's top-ranked side, with Tom Latham and Tom Blundell taking just 10 deliveries to knock off the target and give New Zealand their 100th Test victory. 

It was a remarkable turnaround for New Zealand in their first Test since being swept 3-0 in their series in Australia less than two months ago. 

India resumed the day at 144 for four and lasted only 14 deliveries before they lost their first wicket when Trent Boult removed Ajinkya Rahane for 29.

The New Zealand quick went around the wicket and fired a missile at Rahane that angled in at the batsmen then seamed away to take an edge and he was caught behind.

In the following over, Southee produced an outswinger that beat Hanuma Vihari before bringing the ball back into the batsman with his next delivery to collect the off stump. 

India, having started the day intent on occupying the crease long enough to give New Zealand a testing target, were instead after just four overs fighting to avoid an innings defeat with both overnight batsmen gone. 

After Southee had Ravi Ashwin trapped in front for four, India tasted a little luck when Ishant Sharma was dropped twice on six. But it was a short-lived respite, as he added only six further runs before he was out leg before wicket to Colin de Grandhomme.

Southee came back when the new ball was taken to polish off the innings with the wicket of Jasprit Bumrah to finish with five for 61 to go with his four for 49 in the first innings.

The second Test starts in Christchurch on Saturday.

'Not good enough'

Virat Kohli refused to make excuses for India's comprehensive loss to New Zealand in the first Test saying his side were simply "not good enough". 

The world's top-ranked team crashed to a 10-wicket defeat in the first session of day four to snap a nine-Test unbeaten streak dating back to the 2018 Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. 

It was also India's first loss in eight games in the World Test Championship, although they remain at the head of the table, while New Zealand lie fifth with two wins from six matches.

"We did not show enough competitiveness," Kohli said as his batsmen failed in the face of New Zealand's three-pronged seam attack of senior bowlers Tim Southee and Trent Boult, and newcomer Kyle Jamieson, who took 18 of the 20 wickets. 

"We let ourselves down massively in the first innings with the bat," Kohli said. "You could say the toss played a big role in this Test match but it's an uncontrollable so you can't really focus on that and take that as a massive factor.

"We don't want to make too much of this pitch and what conditions were like. The simple truth is we did not play good enough cricket and that's why we lost. 

"Some people might want it to be the end of the world but it's not. For us it's a game of cricket we lost and we move on, we keep our heads high."

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson described New Zealand's 100th Test victory as a "special effort with the ball and some handy contributions with the bat."

With short-ball specialist Neil Wagner unavailable, the New Zealand bowlers were forced to mix up their attack which hindered the Indian batsmen ability to settle. 

"We tried doing thing a little bit differently," Williamson said. "The best part of the bowling performance was their ability to put the ball into an area that creates the most opportunity for dismissals like lbws, bowled or caught behind and we saw that today with the change of lengths to create that."

Southee said a mix of short balls and swinging deliveries had unsettled India's batsmen. "It's been about buying into what the team needs ... and being willing to try things and look to break the momentum of the batting side," he said.

Kohli believed if India had been able to post a first innings of around 240 it would have given his bowlers a better number to defend, but they had to accept they were outsmarted by the New Zealand bowlers. "They get in the mind of the batsmen and then make the batsmen do something that they don't want to," he said. 

"To be honest they did not give us any room even on the back foot or the front foot so we have to accept they outplayed us in this game and they bowled much better than we did."

The second Test starts in Christchurch on Saturday.

Scoreboard

India 1st innings 165 (A. Rahane 46; K. Jamieson 4-39, T. Southee 4-49)

New Zealand 1st innings 348 (K. Williamson 89, R. Taylor 44, K. Jamieson 44; I. Sharma 5-68, R. Ashwin 3-99)

India 2nd innings (overnight 144-4)

P. Shaw c Latham b Boult               14

M. Agarwal c Watling b Southee         58

C. Pujara b Boult                      11

V. Kohli c Watling b Boult             19

A. Rahane c Watling b Boult            29

H. Vihari b Southee                    15

R. Pant c Boult b Southee              25

R. Ashwin lbw Soutee                   4

I. Sharma lbw de Grandhomme            12

M. Shami not out                       2

J. Bumrah  c sub (Mitchell) b Southee  0

Extras  (w2)                           2

Total  (all out, 81 overs)             191

Fall of wickets: 1-27 (Shaw), 2-78 (Pujara), 3-96 (Agarwal), 4-113 (Kohli), 5-148 (Rahane), 6-148 (Vihari), 7-162 (Ashwin), 8-189 (Sharma), 9-191 (Pant), 10-191 (Bumrah)

Bowling: Southee 21-6-61-5, Boult 22-8-39-4, de Grandhomme 16-5-28-1, Jamieson 19-7-45-0 (2w), Patel 3-0-18-0

New Zealand 2nd innings

T. Latham not out                     7

T. Blundell not out                   2

Extras                                0

Total (0 wickets, 1.4 overs)          9

Bowling: Sharma 1-0-8-0, Bumrah 0.4-0-1-0

Result: New Zealand won by 10 wickets

Toss: New Zealand 

Umpires: Richard Kettleborough (ENG), Aleem Dar (PAK) 

TV Umpire: Michael Gough (ENG)

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)