New Zealand's attack performed admirably in containing India's hard-hitting line-up in the 2-0 Twenty20 series win but the touring top order threatens to be a more difficult proposition with Tendulkar opening the innings.
"We have to get him out -- if he bats for any period of time then India will be moving the game forward and getting themselves into a strong position," New Zealand coach Andy Moles said after the team arrived from the capital today.
The New Zealand team made similar pronouncements about Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir before the Twenty20 series but Tendulkar is a special case.
While Sehwag is configured for all out attack regardless of the consequences and Gambhir is yet to find his touch, Tendulkar, the game's leading run scorer in both tests and one-day internationals, is undoubtedly adaptable.
In 422 ODIs Tendulkar has amassed 16,440 runs at 43.95, a remarkable haul that includes 42 centuries and 90 fifties.
Tendulkar's highest ODI score remains the unbeaten 186 he plundered off an exhausted New Zealand attack at Hyderabad in 1999.
However, since then the diminutive right hander has experienced lulls during his 38-game rivalry with New Zealand.
On his last visit in 2003, he scored zero, one and one as Stephen Fleming led New Zealand to an emphatic 5-2 series victory -- though his most recent innings later that year in Hyderabad realised 102.
Tendulkar, who has scored 1460 runs against New Zealand at 41.71, also approaches this series with a trio of single digit scores.
In the ODI series in Sri Lanka a month ago, Tendulkar was dismissed for scores of five, six and seven -- all leg before wicket to pace bowlers Thilan Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekera and Dilhara Fernando.
The team's video analyst Zach Hitchcock has compiled a dossier on Tendulkar's latest exploits to give the bowlers an insight into any technical deficiencies that might be profitable.
Hitchcock's brief extends to the entire Indian touring party, including test fixtures Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, who are yet to arrive.
"Zach is doing a fantastic job in making sure we're up to date with all the games, from game to game we're adding and taking things away," Moles said.
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