The Indians had no qualms about bowing out early in the one-dayers, and as hard as they tried to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy few expected them to beat Australia in Australian conditions.

Australia are bullish about their chances of continuing their domination over India, though the confidence is based on what happened before the World Cup.

MS Dhoni's side failed to win a game through the first half of their tour. So badly were they travelling, they even lost matches to England.

But the Indians have not looked back since thrashing arch-rival Pakistan on the opening weekend of the tournament and remain undefeated. Their World Cup winning streak is 11.

The Australians are aware of India's resurgence but have been keen to remind them of the psychological hold they believe they have over the visitors.

In a sense they are fighting a one-team phoney war as India have maintained their practice of not speaking publicly outside of the obligations set by the International Cricket Council.

"I think we'll have a little edge over them with a few scars from the matches throughout the summer, they didn't beat us once," said Steve Smith, who captained the side for the summer victories in Michael Clarke's absence.  His comments echoed those made in recent days by Josh Hazlewood, James Faulkner and former captain Steve Waugh, who addressed the team last week.

"So I think that's going to be playing on their mind a little bit."

India's success in the big matches this tournament has been built on a simple formula. Win the toss, bat first then have at least one of their top three - Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan or Virat Kohli - post a game-shaping century.

India posted more than 300 at the MCG against the powerful South African attack though the Proteas were hampered by an injury to Vernon Philander which limited him to just four overs.

"What's important in the last few games is they've had one of the top-order batsmen batting deep into the innings," opener Aaron Finch  said.

"No matter which team it is, if you do that, Rohit Sharma batted deep last time, that makes a huge difference because you've never got two new batsmen at the crease.

"That's the important thing for all teams, not just India. Our job is to get early wickets and put as much pressure on as we can."

India's bowlers were unable to maintain the pressure for long enough during the Tests but the 50-over format and its emphasis on scoring, not just survival, has helped their cause.

Only Trent Boult and Mitchell Starc have taken more wickets than Mohammed Shami this World Cup while the spin of Ravi Ashwin and at times Ravindra Jadeja has applied the clamps during the middle overs.

Finch believes India have not changed their game plan since arriving in mid-November but the long time on the road has helped them adjust to the vastly different conditions in Australia.

"They've got pretty similar strategies, they've gone with a game plan that's clicking for them now," Finch said.

"Their plan doesn't look to have changed too much. They've spent a lot more time in the country. When you look to be aggressive with the new ball, being out here for four and a half months has probably adapted their lengths a little bit.

"They've got skilful bowlers. Shami is swinging the ball which is a huge factor for them at the start of the innings.

"They've just played a lot more cricket here and got used to the conditions, the lengths you bowl and stuff like that. It's not rocket science, they're bowling well, batting well and they'll be tough to beat."