Nagpur, Oct. 27: Australia coach Tim Nielsen is a worried man. Ever since the Ashes tour in July, his players have been taking part in one tournament after the other leading to burnout. After Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and James Hopes picked up injuries in the first ODI in Baroda, Nielsen expressed concern over the number of matches being played.

On Tuesday, the Aussie coach made it obvious that he was unhappy over the tight schedules, but also accepted that it was one thing that his team had to handle from here on.

"It is a situation we grapple with every day. Dealing with players who play for Australia, domestic teams, the IPL or the Champions League. Brett’s (Lee) played seven one-dayers in England, five in the Champions Trophy and then the Champions League T20 and it is no surprise that he has an injury. "We need to be careful, but having said that when it comes to the Champions League and the IPL, we do need the best players to play these games as it is good for the product," he said.

Nielsen felt injuries to three key players would lessen Australia’s chances in Wednesday’s second one-dayer in Nagpur, but added this was a golden opportunity for the others to learn. He was still hopeful that Johnson would recover from his ankle injury and be available. "It was a bit of a scatter-bomb yesterday I mean I don’t remember a team losing three bowlers in one day. It was an unusual circumstance. At this stage, Mitchell is not completely out but for the likely replacements — Doug Bollinger and Ben Hilfenhaus — it is a great opportunity. The only way the young players learn or get better is from being exposed to batsmen like Sachin or Yuvraj, when they are on a roll," he noted.