India skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bowl against New Zealand in Ranchi for the first of three Twenty20 internationals on Friday.
The hosts, who come fresh from their 3-0 sweep of the Kiwis in the one-day series, have picked wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal.
The team are lacking star players including regular skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, both rested for their second successive T20 series.
New Zealand, led by Mitchell Santner, bring in Ish Sodhi and Mark Chapman in place of ODI skipper Tom Latham and Henry Nicholls.
India: Ishan Kishan (wk), Shubman Gill, Rahul Tripathi, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (capt), Deepak Hooda, Washington Sundar, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh
New Zealand: Finn Allen, Devon Conway (wk), Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner (capt), Michael Bracewell, Jacob Duffy, Ish Sodhi, Lockie Ferguson, Blair Tickner
Umpires: Anil Chaudhary (IND), Jayaraman Madanagopal (IND)
TV Umpire: Nitin Menon (IND)
Match Referee: Javagal Srinath (IND)