India's aggressive opening batsman Virender Sehwag has warned New Zealand's bowlers to expect more fireworks in Friday's second ODI.

The strike power of Sehwag, Mahendra Dhoni and Suresh Raina against a sometimes-wayward New Zealand attack took India to a 53-run win in the rain-marred opening game of the five-match series on Tuesday.

"If we are careful at the beginning, we are confident of scoring 300 every time," Sehwag told reporters.

When India last visited New Zealand in 2002-03 they lost the one-day series five-two after being confronted by green, seaming wickets. This year, the pitches do not harbour the same dangers.

"This time the ball is coming on to the bat nicely, flat and hard. The last time we didn't get this kind of wicket," said Sehwag, who struck 77 off 56 balls in the first one-dayer in Napier.

In contrast, New Zealand's batting line-up faces the possible loss of batting strike weapon Brendon McCullum, who aggravated an old injury when he was struck on the right thumb while wicketkeeping in Napier.

He has already been ruled out from 'keeping on Friday and a decision will be made before the game on whether he will be able to play as a batsman only.

Reserve wicketkeeper Peter McGlashan is in line to make his ODI debut, with middle-order batsman Neil Broom likely to miss out.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori is hopeful McCullum will bat on Friday.

"It's funny with Brendon, he seems to have a lot of fitness tests and he seems to come through them all, so he's a pretty belligerent guy and he wants to play every game possible," he said.

"I would err on the side of optimism," he added, while admitting the side's balance would be undermined by having to bring in another keeper.

Another worry for Vettori is the ease with which India dispatched New Zealand's bowlers in the opening match, hitting 273 for four off 38 overs.

He said the performance was disappointing after the bowlers toiled well against Australia and the West Indies in earlier series this year.

"We're trying to find that balance between being tough on them and also realising they've done a pretty good job for a while now," Vettori said.

"They understand where they went wrong and how to rectify it.

"We're hoping Napier is a bit of an aberration."

New Zealand also have plenty to ponder against India's bowling attack, led by pacemen Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma and off-spinning star Harbhajan Singh.

After the rain disruptions, New Zealand needed 216 from 28 overs in Napier and at the end they were stranded well short at 162 for nine.

"We're trying not to take too many risks to their quality bowlers, but at some stage we're going to have to step up and try and turn over one of those three (bowlers) for 50 or 60 out of their 10.

"If you let three guys bowl 10 overs for 30 you start to get in trouble."