India were marching toward a total in excess of 500 before Patel removed centurion Cheteshwar Pujara and captain MS Dhoni in the space of four overs to restrict the home side's charge.
Trent Boult chimed in with his third scalp and a run-out on the stroke of the tea break, ending the hosts' innings on 438.
It is still an imposing first innings total, but the Black Caps' batsmen will fancy their chances after watching their teammates toil away for two sessions on a lifeless pitch.
New Zealand's seam attack took turns all morning to charge in and attempt to end the partnership between Pujara and Dhoni which was threatening to be the making of the match.
But a wicket which provided little assistance yesterday did even less today, leaving the fielding side luckless all morning. After resuming on 307-5, the Indian pair put on 64 in an abbreviated first session - delayed due to the threat of rain - without any troubles.
Indeed, it was beginning to appear as though the ominous dark clouds hovering above Rajiv Gandhi Stadium might quickly become the Black Caps' friends.
But, after Pujara had doubled his previous highest score to reach 150, Patel managed to induce a rare false shot from the 24-year-old. Attempting to loft the ball over mid-wicket, Pujara succeeded only in skying the ball to James Franklin who took a comfortable catch.
That ended the sixth-wicket stand at 127 but Patel wasn't done there, soon dismissing Dhoni in similar fashion for 73.
Patel's recall was starting to appear a sound one and the question became, did New Zealand err in including only one spinner and omitting Tarun Nethula?
India have two quality, if inexperienced, tweakers in their side and New Zealand's ability to handle Pragyan Ohja and Ravichandran Ashwin will go some way to determining the answer to the question and the outcome of the match.
They struggled against spin, particularly that of Sunil Narine, in the unsuccessful tour of the Caribbean, and India's slow bowling is sure to prove difficult in home conditions.
One thing is for certain - despite the doubters questioning Dan Vettori's value to the side after a reduction in his wicket-taking, his presence here would have made the tourists' bowling attack a different prospect.
Vettori, kept out of the series with a groin injury, could have batted at No 6 and assumed the allrounder's role filled by the largely ineffective James Franklin.
Franklin went wicketless in his 13 overs without really threatening, and he will be keen for a contribution with the bat to justify his assertion he is more than just a Twenty20 specialist.
