Despite, suffering a disappointing defeat in the tour of South Africa, India will be in a positive frame when they visit New Zealand for five one-day internationals and two Test matches.
The last time India toured the Kiwis, they did pretty well, coming up trumps in both the ODIs and Tests, and MS Dhoni and co. will look for a repeat of that performance, even with a relatively inexperienced unit at his disposal.
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India have named a relatively settled ODI squad, with a couple of new names added to the team.
Stuart Binny has been knocking on the India team's door for a while now, with some impressive performances for his state side Karnataka, as well as the IPL team Rajasthan Royals, and the son of former India great Roger Binny will be keen to show he can cut it on the international circuit.
Ishwar Pandey is another new name in the Indian side, with the medium pacer rightfully earning his place in the team courtesy some consistent performances on the domestic scene, while Varun Aaron makes a return following a long spell on the sidelines.
Yuvraj Singh's comeback was cut short, after the left-hander failed to set the pulses racing in the ODI series against Australia and the one in South Africa.
The experienced southpaw's susceptibility to fast bowling was laid bare in both of those series' and Yuvraj will no doubt want to work on the chinks in his armour with the T20 World Cup nearing and the 50-over World Cup, to be held in New Zealand and Australia, not too far away either.
The first ODI is scheduled for Sunday in Napier, with all matches starting 2 pm local time (6.30 am IST, 1 am GMT, 8 pm ET (the previous day)) - so an early couple of cups of coffee might be in order to catch all the action.
Each one-dayer will be held every three days, with the final match scheduled for the final day of January in Wellington.
India need to win the series to remain top of the ODI rankings, but the five matches will be primarily important to get acclimatised to the Kiwi conditions ahead of the Test series, as well as in preparation for next year's World Cup, which the Indians of course are the defending champions after that never-to-forget moment in Mumbai.
Schedule: 1st ODI: Sunday 19 January, McLean Park, Napier (6.30 am IST).
2nd ODI: Wednesday 22 January, Seddon Park, Hamilton (6.30 am IST).
3rd ODI: Saturday 25 January, Eden Park, Auckland (6.30 am IST).
4th ODI: Tuesday 28 January, Seddon Park, Hamilton (6.30 am IST).
5th ODI: Friday 31 January, Westpac Stadium Wellington (6.30 am IST).
Squads: New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (capt), Martin Guptill, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Nathan McCullum, James Neesham, Corey Anderson, Luke Ronchi, Mitchell McClanaghan, Kyle Mills, Adam Milne, Tim Southee.
India: MS Dhoni (capt), Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Stuart Binny, R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Varun Aaron, Ishwar Pandey.
