Nielsen concerned over player burnout during India-Australia series India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Coach Tim Nielsen has raised concerns about player burnout ahead of a long summer, as India and Australia 's seven-game series began at Vadodara today. On the eve of the first match, Nielsen said it was particularly important to guard against burnout among the Victoria and NSW players who have already been in India for two weeks for the Champions League Twenty20. "Those guys on the NSW team who were on the Ashes tour have not been home for six months, which is a huge ask. Most of our group members had a week and a half at home in that period. If you have a family it can be difficult," Nielsen said. "Just because of the turnaround and the time between games, we'll have to really manage them, and make sure we're careful. "It's about knowing that we have the depth of talent there to ensure if we do find players are tired or sore or have niggles, that we don't find ourselves short of players and having to use the ones that are sore and hurt them for a long-term injury," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted him, as saying. Managing the workload of Australia 's stars is not the only selection headache confronting Nielsen and his staff, with several batting positions also up for debate. Tim Paine, Shaun Marsh and Shane Watson are all vying for opening spots and Mitchell Johnson added to the logjam by stating that he, too, would like to open in one-day cricket. Meanwhile, captain Ricky Ponting has expressed surprise over a schedule that sent his team to play on slow turning pitches in India for three weeks immediately before they play a Test on the bouncy Gabba surface.