New Zealand will face India in a home white-ball series without two of their most-established stars, as the winds of change blow through the national cricket team.
The two losing T20 World Cup semi-finalists play the first of three encounters over the shorter format at Wellington on Friday, followed by three-match one-day series.
Rising batting star Finn Allen will face the Indians for the first time, but his elevation has come at a cost to Guptill, who warmed the bench throughout the World Cup.
Since debuting in 2009, Guptill, 36, has scored 7346 one-day runs, behind only Ross Taylor and Stephen Fleming among Kiwis, at an average of 41.73 with a high score of 237 not out - second to Indian Rohit Sharma's 264.
His contribution is even more marked in T20 cricket, where he has scored more runs than any other NZ batter (3531), ranked third all-time behind Indian masterblaster Virat Kohli (4008) and Sharma (3853).
He and Sharma have also battled for most career sixes, with his rival currently leading that count 182-173.
"The emergence and success of Finn at the top of the order in white-ball cricket means a guy of the class of Martin Guptill misses out," said Blackcaps coach Gary Stead. "That’s just the nature of high performance sport.
"With the 50-over World Cup less than a year away, we're keen to give Finn every opportunity to keep gaining ODI experience, especially against quality opposition such as India."
Boult's absence is more expected, after he declined an NZ Cricket contract to spend more time with his family and pursue lucrative professional opportunities in overseas T20 leagues.
"When Trent opted out of his NZC contract in August, we indicated that priority would be given to those players with either central or domestic contracts, and that’s been the case here," said Stead.
"We’re all aware of Trent’s world class ability, but at this time, as we build towards more global events, we want to give opportunities and experiences to others.
"The message to both those players is that there’s a lot of international cricket ahead and the door is certainly not closed to them."
Left-armer Boult has taken 187 ODI wickets and 74 T20 scalps, and has formed a potent newball partnership with Tim Southee, who is poised to take his 200th one-day wicket during the upcoming series.
Boult's omission leaves Southee, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Blair Tickner and Adam Mile as frontline pace bowlers against India.
Kane Williamson will captain both squads, despite hinting he might also ease back from international commitments, while allrounder Jimmy Neesham will be excused from the third ODI for his wedding.
Blackcaps squad: Kane Williamson (c), Finn Allen, Michael Bracewell, Devon Conway, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry (ODI), Tom Latham (ODI), Daryl Mitchell, Adam Milne, Jimmy Neesham, Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi (T20), Tim Southee, Blair Tickner (T20)
Join us at 7:30pm Friday for live updates of the Blackcaps v India T20 international
