Australia's form slump in the lead-up to the men's Cricket World Cup has continued with a five-wicket loss to India in the first ODI at Mohali.

After paceman Mohammed Shami's career-best 5-51 restricted Australia to 276, India secured the victory with eight balls to spare at Inderjit Singh Bindra Stadium on Saturday AEST to roar back to the top of the world rankings.

Openers Shubman Gill (74) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (71) laid a wonderful platform, before acting captain KL Rahul (58 not out) iced the win by lofting Sean Abbott for a four and a six.

It was Australia's fourth straight ODI defeat after finishing its recent tour of South Africa with three successive losses by 100-plus runs to concede that series 3-2.

David Warner (52), Josh Inglis (45), Steve Smith (41), Marnus Labuschagne (39), Cameron Green (31) and Marcus Stoinis (29) all fell after doing the early hard yards.

"A lot of guys got starts," Inglis said after the match. 

"If one of us goes on to get 80 or 100 and we get to 300, it makes that chase a lot more difficult there at the end."

Shami was the chief destroyer with the ball, nicking off Mitchell Marsh (4) in the first over, bowling Smith with a magnificent in-ducker and then tearing into the lower order.

In reply, Gill and Gaikwad crunched 142 for the first wicket before a mini-collapse of 3-9 was averted by acting captain Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav (50), who added 80 for the fifth wicket.

One bright spot for Australia was the return from an elbow injury of skipper Pat Cummins, who finished with 1-44 in his first match since the Ashes.

The victory moved India to the top of the ODI world rankings ahead of Pakistan as it looks to retain pole position heading into a home World Cup.

With India already occupying the top spot in both the Test and T20 standings, it is only the second time in men's cricket history that a nation has achieved the number-one ranking across all formats.

South Africa was the last to do so in 2012.

AAP