Sharma reached his fifty off 72 balls with a six off James Neesham over long-off.
Electing to bat, India lost Ajinkya Rahane (3) and Virat Kohli (2) early after a very cautious start.
India's cautious start turned into a disaster as Rahane's wicket in the ninth over left the visitors tottering at 22/2 in 8.2 overs. Rahane got out trying to hook a short ball off Kyle Mills, only to give away a simple catch to Tim Southee at fine leg.
Kohli too mistimed a short delivery from Southee to give away an early breakthrough to the hosts in the fourth over as Jimmy Neesham took the catch at the mid-wicket.
Indian openers started their innings very slowly, managing just 3 runs in the first three overs, before Kohli's wicket reduced them to 5/1 in 3.2 overs.
Earlier, India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat for the first time in the series.
Dhoni has won all four tosses in the series so far but had elected to bowl first in the three previous games. New Zealand lead the series 2-0 after winning the first two matches and after the third match on Saturday was tied.
India have made couple of changes in the playing XI for the match as Stuart Binny makes his ODI debut replacing Suresh Raina whereas Shikhar Dhawan sits out for Ambati Rayudu.
New Zealand also made two changes for the game as they have brought back Kyle Mills and Jimmy Neesham in place of Corey Anderson and Mitchell McClenaghan.
"We want to bat first because it looks like a good wicket and it's a change of strategy," Dhoni said. "Let's hope we get off to a good start.
"A couple of changes bring in that extra bowler in the form of Stuart Binny but he's also someone who can bat a bit lower down the order."
Brendon McCullum said New Zealand also would have batted had they won the toss.
"It looks a little bit dry but hopefully we get that skid-on effect later on tonight," he said.
Having snatched a thrilling tie from the jaws of defeat in the last game, India would look to build on their new-found momentum and aim for their first win of the tour in order to keep the contest alive.
Even though India cannot win the series anymore, the visitors at least can level the rubber and keep their world number one ranking intact, but for that to happen they need to win Tuesday's match as well as the fifth ODI at Wellington.
Teams:
India: MS Dhoni (Capt.), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Stuart Binny, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Aaron.
New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (Capt.), Martin Guptill, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi, Jesse Ryder, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Hamish Bennett.
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