India skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to field against New Zealand in the first T20I here on Friday.
India stuck with the opening pair of Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill, leaving out a returning Prithvi Shaw, while Kuldeep Yadav was preferred over Yuzvendra Chahal.
Mukesh Kumar and Jitesh Sharma also missed out on the playing XI.
For New Zealand, Mark Chapman and Ish Sodhi were brought in for Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls, both of whom left following the ODI series.
Teams:
New Zealand: Finn Allen, Devon Conway (w), Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner(c), Michael Bracewell, Jacob Duffy, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Blair Tickner.
India: Ishan Kishan (w), Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya(c), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh.