The Indian cricket team is planning to use the tour of New Zealand as preparation for next year's World Cup.
The series includes five one day internationals and two Tests.
The captain MS Dhoni says their younger players need to see first hand what conditions are like before the 2015 World Cup, hosted jointly by New Zealand and Australia.
Dhoni says the conditions can even impact on where to place fielders.
The series gets underway on Sunday with the first ODI in Napier.
