MELBOURNE, Feb 4: India’s breakthrough eight-wicket win over Australia in the second Twenty20 match was no surprise to home side captain George Bailey.

After four Test losses and another defeat in the opening T20 contest, India finally won a match on this tour on Friday, and Bailey said “there’s a different energy in this Indian side in the shorter format.”

The win is a belated confidence boost for India heading into Sunday’s tri-series one-day tournament opener at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Sri Lanka are the other team in the series.

“We’re the No 1 one-day team in the world so I’d like to think we are favorites, but in saying that we have to play at our best to beat both these teams,” said Australia’s one-day and Test captain Michael Clarke, who sat out both Twenty20 matches.

“They were both in the final of our most recent World Cup so...I’m confident if we play our best cricket we can win this series.”

Indian batsman Suresh Raina said his team’s morale had remained strong despite a 4-0 whitewash in the Test series.

“Even when you are losing, you need to keep your process intact,” he said. “The good thing was the bonding even in defeats was good in the team. There was a little frustration but we kept the intensity up and kept motivating each other _ keep enjoying every moment.”

A feature of India’s Twenty20 win on Friday was strong fielding that included four run-outs.

“The way they fielded last night is how you need to field in one-day, Twenty20 cricket and test cricket to have success,” Clarke said. “I certainly wasn’t surprised by how they fielded — they are a very good outfit.”

Sri Lanka play their first match on Wednesday at Perth’s WACA Ground against India.

Squads: AUSTRALIA (for first three games): Michael Clarke (captain), David Warner, Ricky Ponting, Peter Forrest, Dan Christian, David Hussey, Michael Hussey, Matthew Wade, Brett Lee, Ryan Harris, Mitchell Starc, Xavier Doherty, Clint McKay, Mitch Marsh.

INDIA: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Sharma, Parthiv Patel, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan.

SRI LANKA: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Angelo Mathews, Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Dinesh Chandimal, Lahiru Thirimanne, Thisara Perera, Farveez Maharoof, Rangana Herath, Sachithra Senanayake, Lasith Malinga, Nuwan Kulasekara, Chanaka Welegedera, Dhammika Prasad.