Team India will be flagged off on the road to 2015 World Cup on Sunday with the first ODI on its tour of New Zealand that will give MS Dhoni and BCCI selectors an insight into the make-up of the side for the quadrennial event.
Napier will host the opening game of the five-match ODI series, during the course of which India's No. 1 rank will also be on the line. And considering this is the second consecutive overseas tour for the Men in Blue, the team should be better prepared than it looked in South Africa.
Not that India played badly in South Africa, but while losing the ODI and Test series to a much superior Proteas side was taken in the stride, it won't be so against the 8th-ranked New Zealand.
