Sri Lanka will begin life under new coach Graham Ford when they meet India in their opening Commonwealth Bank Series match in Perth on Wednesday.

Ford will become the third coach to lead the island nation following in a tumultuous period since they reached last year's World Cup final.

Sri Lankan cricket has been embroiled in controversy on and off the pitch highlighted by a tough tour of South Africa last month that saw former coach Geoff Marsh sacked, while Tillakaratne Dilshan stood down from the captaincy.

Veteran Mahela Jayawardene returns as skipper for the tri-series in Australia as his side look to turn their fortunes around.

Their first test will be a meeting with their World Cup conquerors, who themselves have had their problems following a forgettable tour Down Under so far.

India were whitewashed 4-0 in the Test series and, while they tied their Twenty20 series 1-1, they lost the opening CB match against Australia in Melbourne by 65 runs on Sunday.

Despite those problems, Sri Lanka all-rounder Angelo Mathews is under no illusions as to the size of his team's task.

"India are a pretty good side and we can't underestimate them at any stage," he said.

"They can come hard at us at any time. They're a world-class team and they're the current world champions so we've got to play good cricket and be on our toes at all times."

Sri Lanka have had limited preparation for the one-day series, after arriving in Australia late last month, but Mathews believes the pitches they played on in South Africa are similar enough to ensure they are ready for the conditions.

"The wickets were pretty bouncy and we had to adjust in South Africa," he said.

"We did that pretty well in the latter stages there and we need to do that pretty quickly here to get the results."