Australia captain Ricky Ponting expects his relatively inexperienced side to be tested in the seven match ODI series.

Ponting's confidence stems from his team's successful defence of the Champions Trophy in South Africa last month and a 6-1 victory over England in a one-day series following their Ashes defeat.

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But memories of the team's defeat in the Border-Gavaskar Test series a year ago still linger, although Ponting believes his team is a better one-day side than a Test team.

"There have been some ups and downs over the last two years in Test and one-day cricket," Ponting said.

"At the moment we have been playing some consistently good one-day cricket and I expect that to continue in India.

"We need to keep improving and we need to be at our best in this series. We know the Indian team will play well in their conditions.

"Their fast bowlers, even if they haven't got the class of the likes of Zaheer Khan around, will find a way to do the job. That's what it's all about at the international level."

Australia arrived in India with a depleted side with batting all-rounder Michael Clarke, wicketkeeper batsman Brad Haddin and middle-order batsman Callum Ferguson all ruled out due to injury.

"Our record in ODIs in the subcontinent is good"

Ponting believes Australia's fortunes will rest heavily on how his middle-order batsmen cope with India's spinners.

"As a batting group, it's for us to make sure that we do the best that we can to stay on top of the Indian bowlers and not give them much of an opportunity in the series," he said.

"The challenges that we face in the next couple of weeks will probably be how our middle-order batsmen play the Indian spinners.

"Michael Hussey has played a lot of cricket here, Shane Watson and Tim Paine play spin well. Our record in one-day cricket in the subcontinent is good.

"But, we have got a lot of young players, young as far as experience goes, who are finding their feet in international cricket and this series offers them a different set of challenges.

"I have a good record in one-day cricket in India as compared to Tests and a lot of responsibility is on my shoulders as the number three batsman in the team.

"It's really a big challenge to play against India."

Only four points separate Australia and India at the top of the ICC's one-day rankings and India would be guaranteed the top spot should they win the series.

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But India's fortunes have fluctuated wildly in the recent past, the first-round exits in the Champions Trophy and the World Twenty20 being tempered by a one-day series in the West Indies in between.

India have been strengthened by the return of prolific batsmen Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh, but former India coach Lalchand Rajput believes India will have their work cut out.

"It will be a closely-contested series and India will find the going tough," he said.

"Australia are on a high and off-spinner Nathan Hauritz, fast bowler Brett Lee and some of their batsmen are in terrific form, as seen in the Champions League Twenty20.

"I think Lee and Ponting will be their trump cards and our youngsters will find it hard to counter their fast bowlers.

"However, Sehwag's form is encouraging and while (Gautam) Gambhir is going through a lean patch, India would need consistently good starts.

"I think the team which takes an early lead will hold the advantage in the series."

The seven match one-day series against India will be starting in Vadodara on Sunday.