It's not something you can often say about New Zealand pitches, but the potential is there in the first National Bank Series match between the home team and India at the Basin Reserve for someone to make a lot of runs.

That someone will probably be in the team batting second, on a pitch which is harder, with better grass cover and a superb outfield, than has recently been the case in Wellington.

There will be a temptation to bowl first upon winning the toss in order to take advantage of perceived movement that may be available to bowlers.

But despite that, this looks a pitch where batsmen will have the ultimate say.

While the traditional claims for the underdog status have been made for both teams, it is the home team who go into the match with the most to prove.

They have not played since their abbreviated unsuccessful defence of the ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, and have not played Test cricket since their West Indies triumph in June.

India, by comparison, have been globe-trotting and racking up quite a success rate, and have the added bonus of little maestro Sachin Tendulkar back in the side after a two-month break.

New Zealand have had all the dramas of their pay negotiations and strike action, which while they might say they are all over, they must know full well that the reaction of the New Zealand public is still to be tested in the white-hot atmosphere of competition.

The players have said they did not miss actual playing time, and what they did miss was warm-up matches. But those matches were extra time in the middle for their respective disciplines and that loss has been compounded by the dreadful summer New Zealand has so far experienced.

That increases the pressure on the home team, and most vulnerable is the top-order batting where the comparisons between the two sides are hopelessly lop-sided in favour of India.

New Zealand will look to show the benefits of in-depth technology studies by their brains trust who had plenty of time during the players' strike to work their strategies out, but as their captain Stephen Fleming said today, it was possible to have all the strategies in the world but if the bowlers couldn't work to the required demands they were of very little use.

Fleming has made some grip changes and is looking to go for his shots more often than in recent years. It is vital that he assumes the leadership role with his batting to complement the role he has in other aspects of the team's chemistry. He is well overdue for a sizeable innings of significance.

But Mark Richardson, Lou Vincent, Craig McMillan, who will move to No 4 in the batting order, and Nathan Astle all have similar demands on them. Nothing really changes in that regard, but with a two-Test series, New Zealand to maintain their third position on the ICC Test championship ladder have to win the series.

If the series is drawn, New Zealand drop to fourth, and India rise to fifth.

If India win the series, New Zealand will drop to fifth and india will leapfrog them up to fourth.

Should New Zealand bat second, there will be that grand opportunity for one of the batsmen to take control.

Runs will be more vital to New Zealand. It is unlikely, given the quality of the Indian batting order with Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag, that they will falter twice in the match.

From India's point of view, they will have concerns over the greeness of the pitch. But they may find that the extra bounce in it works in their favour, especially if there is little movement through the air.

Given the winds that have blown in Wellington this week, and the lack of heavy rain, the lack of moisture, and heat, in the air is likely to minimise the threat of the sort of swing so superbly used by Simon Doull the last time the two teams met here.

The toss will be a factor in the final outcome, but it won't be the deciding factor.

That is likely to be determined by how many runs the New Zealand batsmen can give their bowlers to play with.

The teams are:

New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Mark Richardson, Lou Vincent, Craig McMillan, Nathan Astle, Scott Styris, Jacob Oram, Robbie Hart, Daniel Vettori, Shane Bond, Daryl Tuffey, Michael Mason.

India: Sourav Ganguly (captain), Sanjay Bangar, Virender Sehwag, V V S Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Parthiv Patel, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Tinu Yohannan.

© CricInfo