India confident star bats won't fail again

India say a rare one-day batting failure won't be repeated in Tuesday's series-defining fixture against Australia in Adelaide.

After losing the series opener, the Indians must win at Adelaide Oval to remain alive in the best-of-three Gillette ODI Series.

In Sydney last Saturday, opener Shikhar Dhawan was out for a first-ball duck, captain Virat Kohli made just three and Ambati Rayudu was dismissed for a second-ball duck.

The Indians were left reeling at 3-4 in the fourth over, a position they couldn't escape from despite opener Rohit Sharma's superb 133.

It was only the second time in India's ODI history that they lost their first three wickets for four runs or less, a situation made even more unlikely by the dominant recent form of Kohli, Dhawan and Rohit at the top of the order.

Kohli’s failure in Sydney was particularly noteworthy given he averaged more than 130 in ODI cricket last year and is undoubtedly the best one-day player in the world.

His SCG dismissal was his first single-figure score in 22 ODI innings and he’s been dismissed for consecutive scores below 10 just once in almost four years of one-day cricket.

Dhawan, too, had a memorable 2018, falling for a single-figure score just twice in 19 innings.

"It was one of those matches where the top order didn't click," paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar told reporters in Adelaide on Monday.

"It can happen with you when you play so much cricket.

"So it was just one of those things ... it's very rare for us."

But Kumar said the Indians weren't daunted by the prospect of a series loss to Australia, which would give the hosts their first ODI series win in almost two years.

"We have been in this situation before," he said.

"We know it won't be impossible to win the series but it won't be easy for us as we are playing away from home.

"We are preparing in a manner where we have to win our next two matches so it's a kind of knockout for us, we can't afford to lose this match."

Gillette ODI Series v India

Australia ODI squad: Aaron Finch (c), Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey (wk), Peter Handscomb, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Peter Siddle, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Adam Zampa

India ODI squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Vijay Shankar, Shubman Gill

First ODI: Australia won by 34 runs

Second ODI: January 15, Adelaide Oval (D/N)

Third ODI: January 18, MCG (D/N)