Players from both sides have insisted time and again that rankings are not important and that their focus is only on winning the series. But it's always great to be called No I and there's no doubt Australia would like to hang on to that title as they take on India in the first of the seven-match ODI series on Sunday.

For second-ranked India, clinching the series and going to the top will surely be a motivation. But what's not helping MS Dhoni's team are the bowling worries and injuries. The pacers have struggled without spearhead Zaheer Khan in recent times. Though the Indian batting has got a better look to it with the return of Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh, the swashbuckling left-hander is likely to miss the game with a finger injury.

Dhoni at the Vadodara nets. PIC/ATUL KAMBLE