India opener Gautam Gambhir has dismissed suggestions Sri Lanka spinner Ajantha Mendis would pose a challenge for the team in the forthcoming one-day tri-series in Colombo.

On India's tour of Sri Lanka last year, Mendis had demolished India's famed batting line-up in the Tests claiming 26 wickets in a series India lost 2-1.

The spinner had also posed severe problems for the Indian team in the final of the Asia Cup in Pakistan.

India play Sri Lanka and New Zealand in a triangular one-day series starting next week and Gambhir believed Mendis would pose no threat.

"Mendis had his say in the Tests but you have seen how we beat them in the one-dayers twice after that," he said.

"We are coming out of a break and have a lot of energy.

"We have a lot of cricket ahead and it is going to be exciting.

"There is the Champions Trophy after the tri-series and I expect we will do well as we have done well earlier in South Africa.

"Personally, I expect the load to be a great challenge."

Champions India were bounced out early of the World Twenty20 in England, but Gambhir believed their defeats was not due an inability to play the short delivery.

"I think the issue was hyped by the media," he said.

"We have done well against short-pitched deliveries even in Australia and New Zealand.

"As far as the young players are concerned, they will gain from experience and will surely do well," he said.

The future of the one-day format is being questioned by several former players with Shane Warne wanting the version of the game to be scrapped and the England and Wales Cricket Board axing its domestic one-day tournament.

But Gambhir believed there was space for the game.

"There is space in international cricket for the ODIs," he said.

"In fact, there is still excitement in the one-day game and it provides an opportunity for players to show their skills, especially if you are a middle-order batsman.

"In the Twenty20 version a middle-order batsman hardly gets an opportunity to play, but it is not so in the one-day format.

"You have the chance to settle down and play your game," he said.