New Zealand, like India, battled through their early overs and were reeling at 32 for three with Mathew Sinclair, Brendon McCullum and Chris Cairns back in the Westpac Park pavilion.

By the 15-over mark New Zealand 66 for three wickets with Fleming on 30 not out and Scott Styris on nine.

India almost had the perfect start when Fleming survived a very confident appeal for leg before wicket from the first ball of the innings. During the first over he took some heavy blows on his legs and at one stage he collapsed when hit by a ball just above the top of the pads.

Srinath had better luck in his second over, however, when he bowled Mathew Sinclair with a ball that cut back through the gap between bat and pad to bowl him for three. New Zealand were five for one wicket.

McCullum came in next, because Chris Harris was unable to bat at No 3. He hit one lovely cover drive for four but in the next over he was trapped leg before wicket for four. New Zealand were in danger in emulating the Indians as they slumped to nine for two wickets.

Chris Cairns joined Fleming and played some nice shots including one straight drive for a boundary from Srinath's bowling. However, in his fourth over Srinath bowled Cairns for 11, the third time in the series he has claimed his wicket. New Zealand were 32 for three and Srinath was sitting on 299 wickets.

Styris joined Fleming and saw off Srinath after seven overs. He had taken two for 21 but in his seventh over he had his 300th ODI wicket in his hands when Styris on six, offered him a simple return chance but Srinath dropped an easy catch.

New Zealand's fast-medium attack did all the damage on a pitch which offered bounce and more of the sideways movement that has dogged this series, although the movement was not as great as it has been at other centres.

Andre Adams achieved his second-best career figures with four for 21. Adams had 14 wickets at 9.35 in the series.

India have twice been bowled out for 108 in the series, and 122, the previous occasion being in Queenstown.

No sooner had the second drinks break been taken than Yuvraj Singh, who had been doing a fine job in leading the recovery, attempted to drive a ball from Scott Styris over mid-on but lofted the ball straight to Lou Vincent who took the catch reaching above his head. He had scored 33 off 58 balls and India were 93 for seven.

Zaheer Khan opened his scoring with four through the covers from Daryl Tuffey.

But in the 38th over, he sparred at a rising ball from Styris and the edge flew comfortably to Brendon McCullum and Zaheer was out for five scored off 15 balls. India were 99 for eight wickets.

Javagal Srinath came in and took two fours to fine leg, one glanced and the second French cut. Then Kumble unleashed a fine back cut for four runs to lift his score to 20. That at least saw India past their twice-repeated record low in this series of 108.

Fleming brought Daryl Tuffey back and he finished his complement of 10 overs with two for 26 while Scott Styris bowled unnchanged through his 10, including the equivalent of seven overs for six runs and two wickets. His total spell ended with two for 23.

Kumble offered 70 balls of resistance before he offered a bat to a wider ball from Andre Adams and gave Stephen Fleming his third catch of the innings.

The final wicket came when Srinath was trapped leg before wicket for 15 runs scored off 26 balls. Ashish Nehra was two not out.

They were struggling back from the disastrous position of 44 for six wickets in the 16th over with Yuvraj Singh on 25 and Anil Kumble 10 not out. At the 30 over mark they were 80 for six wickets.

Chris Harris joined the players on the field after 16 overs had been completed. He had been off the field since the start of the game with a viral complaint.

It was painstaking work by the batsmen as they attempted to recover the situation. Yuvraj took a hard blow on the hand from Kyle Mills but recovered to play the key innings for the side.

Mohammad Kaif departed in the 17th over, edging a straight ball from Andre Adams to wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum to be out for a duck and India were 44 for six.

At one stage India went scoreless for 24 balls but once Anil Kumble struck a lovely off-drive to the boundary, things started to go much better, by comparison to the calamities of a few overs earlier.

Yuvraj began to piece together some lovely shot with a fine cover drive from Scott Styris' bowling and he took successive fours from Adams' bowling, the first cut and then one through mid-wicket .

He was dropped on 19 when Mathew Sinclair was unable to hold onto a chance when leaping for the ball. India were 74 for six wickets at that stage.

Kyle Mills bowled his 10 overs through and finished with two wickets for 29 runs, including two wides and two no balls.

Adams finished his first spell of six overs with two wickets for 18 runs.

Conditions did not seem to warrant the state of the innings.

At the crease at the end of 15 overs were Yuvraj Singh on nine not out and Mohammad Kaif was scoreless having just come to the crease.

India had made a quiet start as Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag attempted to play themselves in to take advantage of the pitch conditions likely to be available once the shine is taken off the ball.

New Zealand opened their bowling with Daryl Tuffey and Kyle Mills in the absence of Shane Bond who hadn't recovered from his ear infection.

There was a clear determination to avoid the wides and no-balls that have plagued the New Zealanders in their last two matches and it was a tighter start.

In the sixth over, Sehwag offered an edge from Mills that was comfortably taken by wicket-keeper Brendon McCullum. India were 14 for one with the only century-maker in the series back in the pavilion for four.

Sachin Tendulkar survived a big appeal for leg before wicket from the first ball he faced.

Disaster struck in the next over, bowled by Tuffey. He tempted Tendulkar to play at a ball slightly wide of off stump and the edge flew low to first slip where Stephen Fleming held the catch.

He was out for one, to leave his three innings in the series having produced 0, 1 and 1.

India were 17 for two wickets, and off the next ball Dinesh Mongia's series took another turn for the worse when he couldn't handle some extra bounce generated by Tuffey and again the ball flew to Fleming who held the 93rd catch of his career.

Rahul Dravid survived an appeal for leg before wicket from the hat-trick ball from Tuffey, but it always looked too high.

He and Ganguly saw the score through to 44 before Dravid edged a ball from Mills to second slip where Scott Styris snapped up the chance.

Ganguly followed in the next over having played at a wide ball from Andre Adams only to drag it back onto his wickets to see him out for 15, scored off 39 balls. It about summed up his tour.

Mills had taken two for 24 from his seven overs while Tuffey had two for 12 from his six overs and Andre Adams had one for four from two overs.

The overhead conditions are fine and mild and Westpac Park is full to its 9000 capacity.

New Zealand won the toss and Stephen Fleming decided to bowl first. Shane Bond will not play in the game as he has not recovered from his middle-ear infection and his stand-by Paul Hitchcock is 12th man. That allows Daniel Vettori to return to the side.

India have returned Anil Kumble and Dinesh Mongia in place of Ajit Agarkar and Sanjay Bangar.

The pitch has been shaved of much of its grass, although there is a hint of green in the strip but that should burn off in the sun and present a much better surface for this day-night game.

The teams are:

New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Mathew Sinclair, Chris Harris, Chris Cairns, Scott Styris, Lou Vincent, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Andre Adams, Daniel Vettori, Daryl Tuffey (Paul Hitchcock - 12th man).

India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Ashish Nehra, Zaheer Khan, Dinesh Mongia. (Harbhajan Singh - 12th man).

The umpires are: Doug Cowie (New Zealand) and Daryl Harper (Australia). Brent Bowden is third man.