India, Oct. 21 -- India and New Zealand have developed quite the rivalry. It may not be as emotional or one-sided as India vs Pakistan, but it has become as gruelling and fiercely contested as India vs Australia. India don't tour New Zealand often: just four times in the last 15 years. It's even rarer these days for a team to travel for a full-fledged tour covering all three formats. That makes this upcoming tour something of an exception, but also one that promises to be vastly different from any assignment this Indian team has undertaken in recent times.

First things first. With the long tour beginning with the T20Is on Thursday, don't expect it to be anything like the West Indies series, where runs flowed freely and sixes smoked with ...