India suffered an embarrassing defeat in the opening match of the tri-series, going down to New Zealand by a whooping margin of 200 runs, in Dambulla, on Tuesday.

The victory enabled the Kiwis dislodge India from the No 2 slot in the rankings. They now need to beat Sri Lanka on Friday to hang on to their newly-acquired second place.

Chasing 289 for victory, after the Kiwis were dismissed for 288 in 48.5 overs, the Indians, back on the field after their troubles in the Test series against Sri Lanka, lost their way after the dismissal of their openers and were shot out for a paltry 88 in 29.3 overs. 

Earlier, electing to bat, New Zealand were off to a poor start, losing three quick wickets.

Praveen Kumar provided India with the first breakthrough when he had Martin Guptill caught behind by wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni for 11.

Ashish Nehra then got into the act and removed Peter Ingram in the sixth over. Nehra's seaming away ball kissed Ingram's bat and Dhoni made no mistake as India reduced their rivals to 27 for two.

Photographs: Reuters

Kumar then worsened New Zealand's woes with another wicket.

Williamson was beaten by an incoming delivery that beate him all ends up before crashing into his off stump as New Zealand were reduced to 28 for three in the seventh over.

Williamson became the 15th New Zealand batsman to be dismissed for a duck on debut.

Captain Ross Taylor and Scott Styris looked to repair the damage by dealing mostly in singles and twos at the start of their innings.

Abhimanyu Mithun suffered in the 16th over, when the youngster was hit for consecutive boundaries by Taylor and Styris at cover and point respectively to break the shackles after a slow start.

The Indian fielding also played a part in helping New Zealand make a comeback.

Pragyan Ojha was unlucky when his captain Dhoni missed a clear cut stumping opportunity and in the same over, Taylor survived a run out attempt.

In the 26th over, Styris first smashed Ravindra Jadeja over the midwicket for a boundary and then took a single to bring on the 100-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

He soon completed his 25th ODI half century.

Styris repeated the dose on Jadeja after a few overs as he hit him for successive boundaries, the first over down the ground and the second past point. That helped the veteran reach the 4000-run mark in one-day internationals.

The partnership was finally broken in the 39th over, when Ojha cleaned up Styris for 89.

And Taylor fell five short of a well-deserved century a few overs later, out leg before to Nehra to ensure the Kiwis a few anxious moments towards the end of their innings.

However, a few lusty blows from Daryl Tuffey (19) helped New Zealand a competitive 288 in 48.5 overs.

India's start was something similar to New Zealand's earlier in the day. The openers got off to a good start before suffering a slew of blows. Virender Sehwag scored a quickfire 19 before Kyle Mills had him caught behind by Gareth Hopkins to give the Black Caps the breakthrough they so desperately required.

Daryl Tuffey then trapped Dinesh Karthik with the first ball of the next over to ensure double celebration for the Kiwis. And when Rohit Sharma (4) was snapped by Ross Taylor at first slip in Tuffey's next over, India were in a bit of a wobble.

When Tuffey had Suresh Raina (6) caught by Scott Styris at second slip the match seemed to be heading New Zealand's way.

And when M S Dhoni was run-out the writing was on the wall. In under 15 overs, half the Indian side was back in the pavilion.

Ravindra Jadeja battled alone for 20 from 44 balls but couldn't prevent India from going down by 200 runs.

Tuffey finished with three wickets for 34 runs.