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You could forgive Jeetan Patel for not holding his breath when the Black Caps' third Test team sheet is handed over to the umpires on Friday morning.
Patel has done little wrong in his his three-year, seven-Test career, yet he knows only too well that's no guarantee of selection in the XI to face India in the crucial third Test at the Basin Reserve.
Perhaps only Stuart MacGill - forever the understudy to wrist-spinning maestro Shane Warne - could understand the frustration of being an integral part of the side in one Test, yet surplus to requirements in the next.
The Black Caps' reluctance to play two specialist spinners on any pitch not resembling a highway means Patel could well find himself dropped for the fifth time in his career and the fourth time this summer.
The likely benefactor is Tim Southee, who - if the selectors are to be believed - has come back rejuvenated after a stint in domestic cricket where he rediscovered the form and confidence that the touring Indians brually shattered during the ODI series last month.
The case for Southee's inclusion rests largely on his burgeoning talent and on two devastating first-morning spells of bowling. The first came in Napier last summer, where he reduced England to 4/3 en route to a debut haul of 5/55.
Six months later in Brisbane, another breathtaking spell left Australia at 23/3 as Southee picked up four wickets in his first hostile engagement with the Aussies.
Southee was nigh on unplayable in those spells, bewildering the likes of Vaughan, Ponting and Hayden with vicious swing and pace. But ignoring his bursts on the first morning of those two Tests, the picture becomes far less rosy for Southee.
First and foremost, New Zealand lost both those Tests, to a combination of inept batting and a failure to replicate their bowling heroics in the first innings. In Napier, Southee went wicketless in the second innings as England racked up 467/7d. In Brisbane he claimed just one wicket as Australia took contol and skittled the Black Caps for under 200 twice to win comfortably in barely four days.
Southee may be our best fast bowling prospect since Hadlee, but he is still young and tires easily, which makes facing him in the seconds innings a far easier proposition than in the first.
And there is a tendency to get over-excited by the customary green tinge to the Basin pitch on the first morning of a Test. It only takes a session or two to dry out and flatten, at which point it usually becomes an excellent batting surface.
Bowl first and you're putting all your eggs in one basket, as a failure to make early inroads often spells a long two days chasing leather.
And should Southee fail to do just that, there's a very real danger he may become cannon fodder in batter-friendly conditions, just as Kyle Mills was in Hamilton.
A further caveat regarding Southee is that no one, not least he or the Indian batsmen, will have forgotten the clobbering he took last time he faced India in the Christchurch ODI in March, where 105 runs came off his 10 overs.
Southee's routing of the Australian and English top orders was an old-fashioned ambush, whereas the Indians have had a good sighter of him and will show no mercy should he lose his radar in Wellington.
If the Black Caps selectors were gambling men (and past history suggests they are), then Patel is surely the safer bet.
Unable to stem the flow of runs off his bowling in the ODIs this summer, he looked a different bowler in Napier, luring the batsmen into false strokes, turning it on occasion and prising out a match-high four wickets in 64 testing overs.
Patel is a wicket-taking bowler, having claimed 26 scalps at a respectable average of 34 in his first seven Tests. And unlike Southee, he's as likely - if not more - to take wickets on day five as he is on day one.
Also worthy of note is Patel's successful bowling partnership with Vettori. Their constrasting methods compliment each other neatly: Vettori likes to keep the batsmen pinned down using variations of flight and speed, while Patel is more willing to throw the ball up and tempt his man into a false stroke that's often brought about by Vettori's parsimony at the other end.
The pair bowled in tandem for 72 overs of the Napier Test, snaring a combined 5/146 during those overs. Don't forget Vettori should have had two more wickets, had the umpire not incorrectly ruled Rahul Dravid's dismissal a no-ball in the first innings, and had Iain O'Brien not dropped the simplest of catches at mid-on in the second.
A third and riskier option for the Black Caps would be to retain Patel and include Southee at the expense of James Franklin, who has done nothing in the first two tests except eke out a scratchy 52 in Napier.
This, however, moves Vettori up to number seven spot in the order and keeper Brendon McCullum to six, leaving the unappetising prospect of Southee coming in to bat at eight followed by a tail of Patel, O'Brien and Martin.
For all his famed hitting power, Southee has shown not yet shown the ability or inclination to play a gritty supporting innings with a batsman to add valuable runs down the order.
Having Southee bat at six-down is far too great a risk. Besides which there seems little point in throwing an extra specialist bowler into the line up - regardless of how many bowlers Vettori has at his disposal, only two can bowl at a time.
Martin will again take the new ball, hoping to rediscover the knack of picking up early wickets that has deserted him of late, while O'Brien will be entrusted with much of the donkey work into the wind.
Elsewhere in the line-up, the likely re-introduction of Daniel Flynn for Jamie How adds some steel to the Black Caps' wobbling top order. Jesse Ryder may have performed admirable rescue jobs in Hamilton and Napier but he'd still rather be coming in at 200/3 than 20/3.
The home side may also have found an ally in Wellington's changeable April weather. Whereas the first two tests were played under warm sunny skies, an autumnal chill has descended upon the capital, plunging temperatures into the mid-teens.
And if the New Zealand players find themselves reaching for an extra layer of clothing, one could forgive the shivering Indians for feeling a touch homesick.
For the tourists, their brief is simple: avoid defeat and they'll be savouring a rare away series win. But often it's when playing for a draw that teams let their guard down and open themselves up to defeat, as the West Indies very nearly found out in their thrilling series against England last month.
All the talk has surrounded how swiftly the Black Caps bowlers will recover from their endeavours in Napier, where they bowled 274 overs on the trot across both innings. But the Indian batsmen too will be mentally drained after their marathon effort to save the Test.
Even for batsmen well-accustomed to long stays at the crease, the likes of Gambhir and the aging pair of Dravid and Tendulkar have little time to lift themselves off the canvas and prepare for what will likely be their swansong on New Zealand soil.
India will remain heavy favourites to win the Test and series in Wellington, but they now face a home side brimming with confidence and resolve that was impossible to foresee after their capitulation in Hamilton.
Whether it's Southee or Patel leading the charge in the final days of the series, there should be no let up for India's much-vaunted batsmen.
Still, there will be no prizes for guessing which of the two
they would rather be facing.
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