Australia has a dangerous number of Test bowlers unfit or out of touch ahead of the forthcoming West Indies series after Peter Siddle became the fourth player to be sent home from the tour of India.
Consistently Australia's most dangerous new ball bowler on this trip, Siddle complained of left side stiffness during his side's 24-run win over the Indians at Mohali, and bowled only five of his allotted 10 overs.
Team fitness staff concluded Siddle was unlikely to recover from the ailment for at least a week, meaning there was no reason to keep him on tour.
He flew home from India last night alongside all-rounder James Hopes about the same time as fellow Victorian Clinton McKay links up with the squad in Hyderabad.
Wicketkeeper Tim Paine, Brett Lee, Hopes and Siddle have now all been sent home from the tour, in addition to pre-existing injuries that kept Michael Clarke (back), Brad Haddin (finger), Nathan Bracken (knee) and Callum Ferguson (knee) from travelling.
A horrid schedule over the past year has been a key factor in the mounting injury toll.
One team official observed, ''we've got a conditioning bloke on tour who can't do any conditioning work it's all recover and top-up recover and top-up, game after game.''
Siddle's exit means that he, Lee (elbow) and Mitchell Johnson (ankle) are all battling niggles as the weeks count down to the first Test against the West Indies at the Gabba in Brisbane.
Though Johnson has played through his minor strain, he has been struggling as a bowler, and in game four was crunched for figures of 0-74 in nine overs, a stark contrast to the sterling work of fellow left-armer Doug Bollinger, whose 3-38 arguably won Australia the match.
Swing man Ben Hilfenhaus, meanwhile, has played only one match on tour for figures of 1-83, and might have preferred to run into form for the home summer in domestic cricket with Tasmania.
Captain Ricky Ponting was unconcerned by Johnson's wayward effort, suggesting he had simply fallen foul of an early assault by Virender Sehwag (30 from 19 balls).
''He wasn't at his best, but that can happen every now and again in this game, especially when you're bowling to someone like Sehwag at the top,'' Ponting said.
''You only have to be off by a fraction and he capitalises very quickly, as you saw with the first ball of the day [which flew over cover for four].
''[Sehwag] just never lets you settle in and he didn't let Mitchell settle in.
''He got on top of him early and Mitch was under pressure from that moment on really.''
Ponting has been lavish in his praise of Siddle on this trip, and before the injury diagnosis came through had credited him with helping keep Sachin Tendulkar quiet for most of the series.
''Siddle, in particular, I think has bowled really well with the new ball,'' Ponting said.
''His opening spells in every game have not gone for any more than two or three an over, which has been great for us.''
AAP