"We'll definitely miss them, but this also gives a chance for someone else to stand up and make a name for himself," Ross said ahead of the three-day match against India A starting here on Thursday.

"Asia, in general, and India, in particular, are the hardest places to play international cricket. But our players can stand up and be counted on any given day.

"The beauty of this team is that we are a team and play as one," Ross said.

Strike bowler Bond is recovering from injury while Cairns, whose wife is expecting the couple's second child, will join the team only for the triangular one-day series also featuring world champions Australia.

New Zealand play back-to-back Test matches at Ahmedabad (October 8-12) and Mohali (October 16-20) before the one-day series.

Ross, who will be replaced by John Bracewell in November, said the tourists can adapt to any condition and were prepared to deal with the Indians in their own backyard.

"We've the ability to adapt and that is our big strength," the stand-in coach said.

"Moreover, we have some fond memories of the Rajkot ground as we had won a one-dayer against India here by scoring more than 300 during our last visit," he said, referring to his team's total of 349-9 four years ago.

Ross said the captaincy of Stephen Fleming, which has played a major role in lifting New Zealand to third place in the Test rankings behind Australia and South Africa, was a big asset.

"Fleming is an outstanding captain. He leads from the front and that has helped the New Zealanders play as a team," he said.

Ross did not believe his team was short of match practice despite a near-washout in the tour opener at Visakhapatnam last week.

"The Visakhapatnam match was plan 'A' of our preparations, but unfortunately the first two days were washed out and our batsmen didn't get a look in," he said.

"The second match is our plan 'B' and we'd like to get as much practice here as possible. Even if we don't, we are well prepared to take on India in the Test series."

New Zealand will rely more on pace than spin to put pressure on the strong Indian Test line-up that includes Sachin Tendulkar, captain Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.

"If fast bowlers can make inroads into the top order, there is need for only one spinner. We've high hopes on (Daniel) Vettori on this tour," he said.

The India 'A' team will be led by Test aspirant Mohammad Kaif and includes rookie opener Akash Chopra, who scored a century in the tour opener.

TEAMS

NEW ZEALAND (from): Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Ian Butler, Robbie Hart, Richard Jones, Michael Mason, Craig McMillan, Jacob Oram, Mark Richardson, Scott Styris, Daryl Tuffey, Daniel Vettori, Lou Vincent, Paul Wiseman.

INDIA A (from): Mohammad Kaif (captain), Sadagopan Ramesh, Akash Chopra, Connor Williams, Hemang Badani, Deep Dasgupta, Murali Kartik, Sarandeep Singh, Sree Santh, Munaf Patel, Mithun Manhas, Rohan Gavaskar, Abhijit Kale, RP Singh.