AHMEDABAD, India (AP) — Left-hander Jesse Ryder completed a fine century and debutante Kane Williamson also approached the three-figure mark as New Zealand fought back hard in the first Test against India.

Ryder got out just before close of the third day’s play for 103, while Williamson was not out on 87 in a score of 331-5 yesterday in reply to India’s 487.

New Zealand are 156 behind with five wickets in hand.

It was the third Test century for Ryder, whose previous two tons also came against India. He added 194 runs for the fifth wicket with Williamson before pace bowler S. Sreesanth trapped him lbw in the last over of the day.

Ryder and Williamson were comfortable against both pace and spin bowling, leaving India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to resort to part-timers Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina.

Ryder was lucky to survive a chance as Rahul Dravid dropped him at slip off Sreesanth when on 11. He got to his 50 with a pulled four off a full toss from Tendulkar and continued steadily despite having to use a runner through the last session because of a stiff calf muscle.

The 26-year-old struck 10 fours and a six during the 205-ball knock and his stand with Williamson stretched to 281 minutes and 412 deliveries.

Ryder had slammed his previous centuries at Hamilton (102) and Napier (201) when India toured New Zealand last year for a three-Test series.

Williamson, who earned a call to the Test side after hitting a century in Bangladesh last month when New Zealand lost 4-0 in a five-match one-day series, gave a good account of himself with nimble footwork.

The 20-year-old was content taking singles and twos, having hit only six fours so far.

Earlier, Harbhajan and Ojha took key wickets in the morning session.

The overnight pair of Brendon McCullum (65) and Ross Taylor (56) stretched their third-wicket partnership to 104 runs, before both fell to the spinners.

This is the first match of a three-Test series. The other Tests will be held in Hyderabad and Nagpur.