Australia captain Michael Clarke has admitted his team were not good enough in the field during Sunday's four-wicket defeat to India in Adelaide.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's late heroics with the bat guided the tourists to victory in the final over, but Clarke felt his team should not have allowed India to get close to the target and put the blame on his fielders.

"If you look at myself, Ricky Ponting and also Dave Warner, we fumbled a few balls tonight, and we are better than that," said the captain.

"You can't blame anyone else when you are not performing as well as you like. We just got to make sure we are concentrating, and we are ready for every ball.

"It (Adelaide Oval) is as nice a ground as anywhere in the world. It's a beautiful outfield, very flat. We have no excuses for our performance tonight. We just weren't good enough."

With Michael Hussey being rested, Clarke defended Australia's rotation policy, but admitted he personally has no desire to take a break.

"It's international cricket, another chance to play for Australia, and you want to perform every single time you do that," Clarke said.

"Has it been a long summer? Well it has been a great summer for us so far. I can only talk about me personally: I feel like I am hitting the ball sweet, I feel I am training hard, and I am really keen to play every game at the moment."

The 30-year-old added that as the tri-series tournament continues, Australia will continue to put out the best possible starting XI while also making sure no player becomes overworked.

"Like all the guys, no one wants to rest. It's just about managing the workloads, and making sure we are putting guys on the park that we think can help us win the game, (that ones that) give us the best chance of winning the game," Clarke added.

"If there is a time that we feel boys are a little tired, we would do that (rest players) as we have done with Michael Hussey. It's just about assessing the team."