India's Sachin Tendulkar plays a shot during practice in the southern Indian city of Chennai earlier this month. The master batsman could line up against the West Indies today in Malaysia. - Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP):

INDIA CAPTAIN Rahul Dravid said yesterday his team has put behind them this summer's 4-1 series drubbing by the West Indies and will treat its first match in the limited overs tri-series against Brian Lara's team as a fresh challenge.

The two teams will clash this morning (Jamaica time) under lights at the Kinrara Oval in the second match of the tri-series. The third team is Australia, which defeated West Indies by 78 runs in the opening match on Tuesday.

All three teams in the tournament are treating the day-night tri-series tournament - held for the first time in this tropical country - as a tune-up ahead of next month's ICC Champions Trophy tournament in India.

"We will have to try and hit the ground running hard and we will have to try and get our act together quickly and we can't afford to slip up and fall behind too quickly," Dravid told reporters before a practice session, adding that the series will be "good preparation" leading into the Champions Trophy.

Australia had not played any international cricket for more than seven months until Tuesday. India and the West Indies last played top-level cricket during India's May-July tour of the West Indies. India lost the one-day international series during the tour 4-1, but won the Test series.

Recovering from shock defeat

A downcast West Indies, meanwhile, are recovering from Tuesday's shock defeat when they were dismissed for 201, chasing Australia's total of 279 for nine.

West Indian openers Shivnarine Chanderpaul (92) and Chris Gayle (58) shared a solid 136-run partnership before Chanderpaul was dismissed with the score at 172 for two. The West Indies lost their remaining wickets for 29 runs.

"It was a bit difficult to comprehend but these things do happen," captain Brian Lara said. "We were on course to victory, and we found a way to lose."

But Lara said the "psychological advantage" from the victories over India in the series this summer must be continued in Kuala Lumpur.

Dravid, however, said the defeat would not affect his team.

"It's a completely new match, new venue, different conditions. That was a long time ago. We have to move on," he said before a practice session under the lights.

Lessons learnt

"There are lessons to be learnt from that one-day series. That won't change but this is a new series, new place, new environment. We want to have a better result than we had in the West Indies," he said.

India made their tour of the West Indies without star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, one-day cricket's leading run-maker, who was recovering from shoulder surgery. He returned to the team for a tri-series last month in Sri Lanka, which was subsequently cancelled due to rain.

Chanderpaul said the West Indies were treating the return of Tendulkar with caution.

"We all know what Sachin can do," he said, adding that the Kinrara Oval wicket is not "easy to bat on".

Dravid refused to confirm if Tendulkar would be in the team, saying the best XI would be chosen depending on the state of the pitch and the conditions.