Mohammed Shami bowled two successive maiden overs to push Kiwis on the backfoot right from the word go.
Earlier, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and decided to field against New Zealand in the final ODI of the five match series.
India made one change, recalling opener Shikhar Dhawan in place of Stuart Binny, who made his ODI debut in the fourth match at Hamilton.
New Zealand, which lead the five-match series 3-0 with one match tied, made two changes to its lineup for the match, naming fast bowler Mitchell McClenaghan in place of Tim Southee and Matt Henry to make his ODI debut in place of another quick, Hamish Bennett.
After winning the toss Dhoni said: "The surface won't change much and it's rather hard. Quite similar to Napier. Might be a bit in it for the seamers early on."
"It's about building pressure, individually as well and we have to bowl in partnerships as well. Hopefully we pull off a win in this last game," said Dhoni
While his counterpart Brendon McCullum said: "Not the worst toss to lose, there's green tinge and it's quite hard. If we can follow the blueprint we've had going, we should do well."
India, who have already lost the series, would be desperate to salvage some lost pride by notching their maiden win on the tour so far.
The Men in Blue have lost much in the past two weeks, in lieu of a 3-0 series loss as also the climb-down from their number one ODI ranking.
The visitors lost the first ODI in Napier by 24 runs, then went down in Hamilton by 15 runs, tied the third ODI in Auckland, but lost the fourth in Hamilton by seven wickets to squander the series.
A consolation win will mean that the series will end at 3-1 rather than 4-0, the latter a very embarrassing score-line if it indeed comes to pass.
Even so, victory will only restore so much respectability for the reigning world champions, considering how awfully wrong things have gone for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team ever since they stepped out of home in early December.
In seven ODIs since, they are yet to win a single match, losing five and tying one (one no-result).
Teams:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Aaron.
New Zealand: Brendon McCullum (Capt.), Martin Guptill, Mitchell McClenaghan, Nathan McCullum, Kyle Mills, James Neesham, Luke Ronchi, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson, Matt Henry.
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