Victory would be 'amazing effort' - Ponting

Ricky Ponting has said that if Australia could scrape through for a series victory in India it would be "an amazing effort" given the squad's horrible run with injuries. Australia will begin Thursday's ODI in Hyderabad with the seven-match series locked at 2-2 but with only 13 fit men to choose from.

"If you consider everything that's happened to us over the last couple of weeks, it would be an amazing effort if this group of players were good enough to get over the line," Ponting said in the Age. "I think we showed the other night that if we play even somewhere near our best we're a really good chance of winning the series.

"But with five or six guys - probably more than that - out of our starting XI that aren't here at the moment, we're going along nicely. And we haven't played our best. With our batting we probably left 30-40 runs out there the other night so, hopefully, that all clicks tomorrow, and if it does we know we'll be well in the contest again."

The Victoria allrounder Andrew McDonald and the New South Wales fast bowler Burt Cockley are flying in to boost the squad before the sixth ODI in Guwahati on Sunday. For Thursday's game, the selectors need to choose one of the batsman Adam Voges, the fast bowler Clint McKay or the spinner Jon Holland, and the coach Tim Nielsen said on Wednesday McKay would play "in the next couple of games, if not tomorrow".

"He's a big kid that's done well over here and he brings the ball down from a height," Nielsen said. "We'll hopefully see him get a bit of bounce in the conditions."

The Australians began the series without Michael Clarke (back), Brad Haddin (finger), Callum Ferguson (knee) and Nathan Bracken (knee). As the tour has worn on they have also lost Brett Lee (elbow), Tim Paine (finger), James Hopes (hamstring), Peter Siddle (side stiffness) and Moises Henriques (hamstring).