India hope that Sachin Tendulkar will recover from a knee injury for Saturday's second match in the one-day series with New Zealand, after an opening loss in Auckland.

Ganguly was unimpressed by the Auckland pitch

Tendulkar was one of three Indian players to miss the three-wicket defeat, along with off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and all-rounder Sanjay Bangar.

Physiotherapist Andrew Leipus said that Tendulkar stepped in a hole and sprained his right ankle while bowling in the nets.

"It's quite swollen at the moment but he is walking around and that's a positive sign," Leipus said.

"I will try and get him ready for the next match, but if necessary we will rest him for that one as well."

The Indian management were coy about Harbhajan's hand injury, with manager N.R. Choudary describing it as "just some problem" and further as a "long-standing injury".

The pitch was not ideal for a one-day game Stephen Fleming

Bangar sustained his knee injury while taking a catch in the Hamilton Test earlier this week.

Captains Stephen Fleming and Sourav Ganguly were both were scathing about the pitch after New Zealand won a low-scoring affair.

"It certainly fooled me," Fleming said. "I thought it was going to be a good wicket and that's why I bowled first.

"It was very testing and a little two-paced and difficult to bat on.

"We are not asking for these types of wickets. We want to see quality cricket and you get quality cricket from good pitches."

Both matches in the short Test series were dominated by the bowlers, although neither pitch was of the drop-in variety, mainly used at rugby venues.

"It doesn't help the batsmen from either side and it doesn't help cricket," said Ganguly, whose side were bowled out for 108.

"If you get too many 100-each-side ODIs then people just won't turn up."

Oram again nursed New Zealand home

But Fleming argued that the batsmen were nervous after playing on seaming wickets in the Tests.

"You've got to look at the frame of mind of the batsmen who have been playing over the last couple of weeks," he said.

Man of the match Jacob Oram got five for 26 with the ball and then led New Zealand to victory with a patient 27 - the highest score in the innings.

It was the second time in a week that Oram had nursed New Zealand to victory, doing a similar job in Hamilton with an unbeaten 26.

"Today stands out for me," Oram said. "I've never had five wickets in a one-dayer before so that sets it apart.

"With the batting I took a lot of heart from Hamilton. It wasn't pretty out there, but above all it was the fact I wanted to stay there."