Their reputation bruised and battered after the humiliating loss in the Test series, India will be desperate to turn their fortunes around and restore some pride in the limited overs matches, starting with the first T20 against Australia on Wednesday.
The Indians slumped to their lowest ebb in the longer version of the last week when Australia mauled the visitors by a 4-0 margin in the Test series.
The drubbing at the hands of Australia was also the current ODI world champion team's eight straight overseas Test defeat following the series loss by identical margin in England last year.
But with some fresh legs -- Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwary, Praveen Kumar, Irfan Pathan, Parthiv Patel, Ravidra Jadeja and Rahul Sharma --joining the team for the limited overs matches, Mahendra Singh Dhoni would be hoping for lady luck to smile on him in the first of the two T20 matches tomorrow ahead of the tri-series, featuring hosts Australia and Sri Lanka.
With India's famed batting line-up failing miserably in the Test series, there is a scramble for early berths in opening Twenty20 match at the ANZ Stadium.
There is competition for each spot in the team, especially after the debacle in the Test series.
The opening duo of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have time and again failed to give India a good start in the Test series.
To add to it, skipper Dhoni himself has looked a pale shadow of his former self with the bat as well as his leadership qualities.
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