Kane Williamson will captain New Zealand in their limited-overs internationals against Pakistan.
Williamson will stand in with captain Brendon McCullum, and seamers Tim Southee and Trent Boult heading home to prepare for the home series against Sri Lanka.
Fast bowler Adam Milne has been included in the squad, along withopener Anton Devcich, who had had a strong series for New Zealand A in the United Arab Emirates in the past week.
Senior batsman Ross Taylor, who missed the South African ODI series in October, returns to the squad.
There are two T20 internationals followed by five ODIs.
"Managing players' workloads will be an important part of our summer's plans and this is simply an example of that," general manager national selection Bruce Edgar said of the three players heading home early.
"On the flipside, it gives us a chance to assess and evaluate other players in contention for the Cricket World Cup squad, and allows us to work on some of our contingency plans - such as developing Kane's captaincy experience."
The first of the T20s is in Dubai on Thursday night (NZT).
New Zealand squad: Kane Williamson (c), Martin Guptill, Anton Devcich, Ross Taylor, Tom Latham, Dean Brownlie, Corey Anderson, Luke Ronchi, Jimmy Neesham, Nathan McCullum, Dan Vettori, Kyle Mills, Mitchell McClenaghan, Matt Henry, Adam Milne.
