Australia's injury-riddled tour of India has veered into tragicomic territory, with all-rounder Moises Henriques the replacement for James Hopes pinging a hamstring.

Henriques, who damaged his right hamstring while in the field at Mohali, will not play in game five of the seven-match series at Hyderabad and selectors are deliberating on whether to make him the fifth player to be sent home from the tour.

His absence leaves only 13 fit players in the squad and opens a spot for one of Victorian duo Jon Holland and Clint McKay, who trained for the first time yesterday since arriving to replace Brett Lee.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting can only watch as the dressing room turns into a casualty ward.

''It's disappointing to see these guys go down, because you know how much they want to play and be a part of the series and do the best they can to win games and win series,'' he said yesterday.

''So it's more disappointing for them more so than anything, I'm sure everyone who's returned back home would much rather be here with the series as it is at the moment, but we've got what we've got.''

Ponting noted that the Australians' fierce desire to win every series had perhaps caused problems as the schedule became ever more taxing this year and players failed to get adequate rest.

''We want to win this series and that's, unfortunately for us, probably a mentality for every series or game we go into and sometimes that can cost us a little bit I think,'' he said.

''How proud we are in our performances and results can sometimes cost us in the long run.

''Certainly for me every game I play with these guys I want to be able to win but sometimes that means pushing guys a little bit too hard and we have some of these injuries come along. First and foremost you want to continue to try and put our best team on the park from what we've got available and try and win the series, but have one eye on what's happening in a couple of weeks after we arrive back home as well.''