Australia and India feasted on the Canberra pitch with incredible ease, scoring a combined 671 runs in Wednesday night's one-day international.

India were on track for their first win of the series before a remarkable collapse allowed Australia to prevail by 25 runs.

On the surface, the match looks like an even contest between bat and ball, with 18 wickets falling across the two innings.

But Australia was 1-221 at one stage, while India was even more dominant at 1-277 before they went down in flames.

Cricket Australia admits they would like to see more assistance for fast bowlers in all pitches across the country for international fixtures.

But van Dam said the batsmen-friendly wickets were what was needed to provide fans with what they wanted to see in 50-over and Twenty20 cricket.

"You have got to look at where the game is heading towards with Twenty20 being so massive, and the way people are batting in one-day cricket," van Dam said. "One-day cricket leans towards the batsmen and always has.

"I prepared a pitch with a par score of hopefully 300 and what the players do and how the bowlers bowl after that is what works out."

Van Dam said the amount of cricket played across the summer, along with other commitments at grounds, presented unique challenges to curators.

"There's a lot of cricket now," he said. "Everyone around the country has done a fantastic job in what they have to do to prepare each and every match.

"There's a lot behind the scenes that people are unaware of when you pay for your ticket and you rock into the door of the game."

One of the challenges at Manuka Oval is the change between the cricket season and preparing the ground for AFL.

The Greater Western Sydney Giants play four games in Canberra each year, with the majority of those near the start of the AFL season.

But van Dam said he was able to get the balance right and ensure that neither sport was compromised.

"It's a great challenge we have and I think we do it very well," he said. "A few years ago, going from a NAB Cup game to a [Sheffield] Shield match to a shield final and people wouldn't have guessed what had happened."