NEW DELHI, Oct 29 World champions Australia said on Thursday they were struggling to focus on the ongoing one-day series in India because the team had been decimated by a string of injuries to key players.

With the seven-match series tied at 1-1, the injury-plagued tourists are down to the bare bones for the third One-day International at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Saturday.

“With a few little niggles around, the focuses do tend to go towards that,” said left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson, himself battling an ankle injury.

“But we have got to regroup, sit in our team meetings and talk about what went wrong in Nagpur and what we thought we did right out there.”

Australia won the first match, in Vadodara on Sunday, by four runs, before crashing to a heavy defeat in Nagpur on Wednesday after India piled up a mammoth 354-7 and bowled out the tourists for 255.

Ricky Ponting's men came to India depleted by the absence of four one-day regulars, vice-captain Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Nathan Bracken and Callum Ferguson.

Pace spearhead Brett Lee (elbow) and all-rounder James Hopes (hamstring) missed Nagpur, while Johnson only just made it.

In a further blow, wicket-keeper Tim Paine — a replacement for Haddin — broke a finger during the demolition in Nagpur and has been asked to return home.The selectors, who flew in young all-rounder Moises Henriques to reinforce the injury-stricken squad, have now called up Graham Manou to replace Paine.

If Manou arrives in New Delhi by Friday, he is certain to play a day later, but it is unclear if Lee and Hopes will be available for selection on Saturday.

Manou, who was back-up to Haddin during this year's Ashes Test series in England, was scheduled to leave for India late on Thursday, Cricket Australia said in Melbourne.

“Tim Paine has a fractured finger from the game last night and is unable to take any further part in the series. He will return to Australia as soon as the replacement arrives in India,” chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said in a statement.

“Graham Manou is travelling to India tonight and will be available for selection for the next game.

“Graham richly deserves this opportunity following his Ashes debut.”—AFP