New Zealand set 263-run target for India

New Zealand set India a 281-run target according to the Duckworth-Lewis System in the rain-affected fourth One-day International at the Seddon Park here Wednesday.

New Zealand set India a 263-run target in 43 overs, according to the Duckworth-Lewis System in the rain-affected fourth One-day International at the Seddon Park here Wednesday.

New Zealand made 270 for the loss of five wickets in 47 overs. Brendon McCullum was the top scorer with 77 while Peter McGlashan remained not out on 56.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori won the toss and decided to bat in the fourth One-Day International (ODI) against India here at Seddon Park Wednesday.

While India made two changes from the side that won the high-scoring third ODI at Wellington by 58 runs, New Zealand line-up shows three changes.

India are playing without their star batsman and architect of the Wellington victory Sachin Tendulkar, who dropped out with a stomach injury sustained in the match, and Rohit Sharma comes in for him.

The other change is a fit Ishant Sharma returning to the side replacing Munaf Patel.

New Zealand were also forced a change due to injury as Ian Butler makes way for Even Thompson to make his ODI debut.

Vettori, who missed the last match for the birth of his first child, replaces off-spinner Jeetan Patel, while Iain O'Brien returns to the side in place of Tim Southee who has been dropped from the squad after going for plenty at Wellington.

India's captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said after the toss that he was unsure what to expect from New Zealand who traditionally liked to chase targets.

"It will be tricky for New Zealand because they don't know what target to set. I should be interesting to see how they bat first," Dhoni said.

Vettori said he wanted to set a target for a change after failing to chase in the earlier games.

India lead the five-match series 2-0 after winning at Napier and Christchurch.

The second match in Wellington was washed out -- the final game is in Auckland on Saturday.

No Indian team has won an ODI series in New Zealand

The ground statistics give New Zealand cause for optimism. Of the 12 ODIs featuring New Zealand, they have won 10 and lost one -- to Sri Lanka in 2001-and one match was abandoned. However, seven of those victories were achieved by batting second.

The teams:

India: M.S. Dhoni (captain and wicketkeeper), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma,Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma. 12th man: Dinesh Karthik

New Zealand: Daniel Vettori (captain), Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Grant Elliott, Jacob Oram, Peter McGlashan (wicketkeeper), Kyle Mills, Iain O'Brien, Even Thompson. 12th man: JeetanPatel.

Umpires: Rudi Koertzen and Gary Baxter. Third umpire: Evan Watkin.

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle.