The margins are so tight on the table that New Zealand can jump from equal sixth with Pakistan, on 114 points, with a clean sweep.
A 3-0 win would have them ahead of No 1 side West Indies, who are on 118 points. A 2-1 win would have New Zealand fifth, ahead of South Africa.
A series loss would drop them to eighth spot.
Among the threats Pakistan will pose is convicted spot fixer Mohammad Amir. However New Zealand allrounder Grant Elliott isn't buying into talk about the past.
"That's not something that worries us," Elliott said today. "All we are concerned about is how good people are on the cricket field. That's for outside sources to sort out."
Asked if Amir, one of three players convicted and jailed for fixing during a test in England in 2010, deserve a second chance, Elliott laid off.
"I'm not going to go into any of that stuff. What I know is I played against Amir in 2009 in the test series and he was a very quick bowler then.
"It will be interesting to see how he come back from what's happened," Elliott said.
New Zealand had taken confidence out of their 2-0 beating of former world No 1 side Sri Lanka in the past week.
"We showed character to pull through the first game [in Mt Maunganui, by three runs] while the second was a convincing victory [nine wickets at Eden Park on Sunday].
"That will give us a lot of confidence going into the [Pakistan] series.
"They possess different threats, they obviously have a lot of left armers and quite a bit of experience as well."
Elliott's last international at Eden Park was his finest moment for New Zealand, hitting the winning six in the World Cup semifinal against South Africa last March.
He's been sidelined with a broken arm through the early part of this season, but played a major part in the second Sri Lankan win, taking four for 22 with his medium pacers.
"I felt like I hadn't really left. It's a great environment to play in.
"That's always a good feeling and Eden Park has special fond memories for the team that played in the World Cup."
