Paine, who has played 17 limited-overs internationals for Australia, will join the team for one-day matches this month against England. Haddin is sidelined with a tennis elbow and may also miss Australia’s two test matches against Pakistan in July, opening the way for Paine to make his test debut.

Paine made his one-day debut for Australia last September and posted a high score of 111 against England at Trent Bridge in the sixth match of last year’s limited-overs series.

Clarke was impressive as a skipper in West Indies during the ICC World T20, where he guided Australia to the finals, but his batting came under heavy criticism with the talented batsman finding it difficult to keep up the scoring rate in the shortest format. His T20 strike rate of 101 is well below par when compared to the international standards. A lot of former Australian cricketers and experts are of the opinion that Clarke needs to do a lot more to justify his position in the T20 side as a batsman.

The Australian selectors have given Clarke almost the same squad that played in the World Cup, the only change being the omission of reserve wicket-keeper Tim Paine.

Left-handed opener, Shaun Marsh, has been recalled to the ODI side after missing the last two series due to a back injury. Marsh has replaced Adam Voges in the ODI squad for the one-off game against Ireland in Dublin that kicks off the tour on June 17 and the five one-day internationals against England that follow.

However, the squad to take on Pakistan in the two Tests from mid-July won’t be named until several contenders have played for Australia A late next month. The absence of Phillip Hughes due to a shoulder injury means Usman Khawaja, Michael Klinger and the Australia A captain George Bailey will be jostling for the role of backup Test batsman when they face Sri Lanka A in Brisbane.

That series will also give Ben Hilfenhaus a chance to continue his steady return from knee tendonitis. Hilfenhaus has been chosen in the four-day Australia A squad and is hopeful of proving himself fit for the Tests against Pakistan, having not played for his country since the first Test of the home summer back in November.

“Ben Hilfenhaus is making good progress with his knee tendon injury,” physio Alex Kountouris said. “As part of his rehabilitation he has commenced bowling and has spent some time at the Cricket Australia Centre of Excellence during the past week. So far he has coped well and if his progress continues with an increasing bowling workload over the coming weeks, he’ll take his place for Australia A against Sri Lanka A in preparation for possible selection in the Test squad.”

“Peter Siddle is recovering well from a lower back stress fracture sustained during the Australian summer. However, it was felt that there was too big a risk for him to return for the tour of England and Ireland, particularly with the important 12 months coming up. Peter remains on target to return to the playing field at the start of the Australian domestic summer. Brett Lee is recovering from the elbow muscle injury that he picked before the ICC World Twenty20 and is yet to commence bowling,” he added.

The Australia A squad also features Mitchell Marsh, brother of Shaun Marsh and captain of Australia’s Under-19 World Cup-winning squad this year. He will be joined by another player with cricketing lineage, James Pattinson, the Victoria fast bowler whose brother Darren played a Test for England in 2008.

ODI squad: Shane Watson, Shaun Marsh, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Cameron White, Brad Haddin, Steven Smith, James Hopes, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Ryan Harris, Clint McKay, Doug Bollinger.

Twenty20 squad: Shane Watson, David Warner, Michael Clarke (capt), Cameron White, David Hussey, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin, Daniel Christian, Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Ryan Harris, Dirk Nannes, Shaun Tait.

Australia A four-day squad: Ed Cowan, Usman Khawaja, Michael Klinger, George Bailey (capt), Peter Forrest, Andrew McDonald, Tim Paine, Mitchell Marsh, Steve O’Keefe, Ben Hilfenhaus, Josh Hazlewood, Peter George, Mitchell Starc.

Australia A one-day squad: Tim Paine, Usman Khawaja, Adam Voges, George Bailey (capt), Travis Birt, Aaron Finch, Andrew McDonald, Mitchell Marsh, Xavier Doherty, Brendan Drew, James Pattinson, Jake Haberfield, Josh Hazlewood.

The five players have been removed from the 25 players’ contract list for 2010-2011. The new additions to the list are pacers Ryan Harris and Clint McKay, wicket-keeper batsman Tim Paine and all-rounders Steven Smith and Adam Voges.

Speedster Brett Lee has managed to retain his contract despite his recent injury and form struggles, while fellow fast bowler Shaun Tait also found a place on the list despite his status as just a Twenty20 specialist.

The players were assessed based on their form over the past 12 months and their likelihood of Australian selection in the coming year. All contracted players will receive a minimum USD 200,000 retainer from CA, plus match fees, tour fees and prize money for any on-field success.

“The contract list has a good blend of experience and youth and recognises the very strong performances of the Australian side in Test and limited overs cricket this summer,” CA National Selection Panel chairman Andrew Hilditch said. “Ryan Harris receives his first Australian contract. Having overcome injury, he has made the most of every opportunity in the Australian side this summer in all forms of cricket.”

“Steve Smith is a young man who also receives his first contract. He has had a very exciting domestic summer, is part of our ICC World Twenty20 squad and is pushing hard for selection in both Test and one-day cricket. Shaun Tait has had his contact renewed as we see him as an important member of the ICC World Twenty20 squad and he has a real chance to force his way back into the Australian 50 over side,” he said.

“It is disappointing for Stuart Clark and Nathan Bracken who have not received contracts for 2010-11. Both Stuart and Nathan have fantastic records for Australia and not renewing their contracts was a very hard decision. David Hussey is also very unlucky not to receive a contract after a very successful domestic season and is part of our ICC World Twenty20 squad,” Hilditch added.

The National Selection Panel said that the decision has been taken to manage the workloads of both Watson and Haddin, keeping in mind the domestic summer season and upcoming tour of New Zealand.

The third match of the five-match series will be played on Friday in Sydney and fourth in Brisbane on Sunday.

“After a busy international summer, and with an upcoming tour of New Zealand in mind, the NSP has taken the opportunity to manage the workloads of Brad Haddin and Shane Watson for the next two matches of the Commonwealth Bank Series. Tim Paine and Adam Voges are the players added to the (13-man) squad,” said the statement released by the NSP.

“Paine thoroughly deserves another chance behind the stumps for Australia in ODI cricket after playing so well in England, the ICC Champions Trophy and India late last year. Voges was unlucky to miss selection for the opening two matches of the Commonwealth Bank Series against the West Indies but now has a chance to press for selection,” NSP Chairman Andrew Hilditch said in the statement.

Australia won the sixth ODI in Guwahati on Sunday by a comfortable six-wicket margin and took an unassailable 4-2 lead in the seven match series. The Australian media lauded Ricky Ponting and his men for the way they have humiliated India despite being without their key players. The series win also meant that Australia consolidated their position at the top of the ODI rankings, which was under threat if India were to win the series.

“Courageous Australia remain cricket’s one-day kings after crushing upstart rivals India in a ruthless show of strength,” screamed a write-up in the Courier Mail. “India’s bold ambition to send Ricky Ponting’s men home without the number one ranking proved hollow with Australia’s six-wicket victory sealing the series and one-day bragging rights.”

Headlined ‘Jubilant Aussies take series over India’, Herald Sun newspaper said the series win by Ponting’s men would be even more devastating to the Indian psyche as it had come with a “virtual Australia-A side”.

“Dhoni’s side will be licking its wounds for a while after being bashed by a virtual Australia ‘A’ side, short of front-line names but big on heart,” it said.

“The loss of Brett Lee, Peter Siddle, Tim Paine, James Hopes and Moises Henriques only served to galvanise Ponting’s unit. Australia has depth in young talent who will not only hold the line as reinforcements but win battles of their own,” the article in the Herald Sun said. “Ponting’s injury-hit squad of ‘home brand’ warriors put India back in their box, dealing a huge psychological blow to their psyche.”

The Age lauded Ponting’s men for keeping Australia’s 13-year undefeated ODI series run in India intact. “Australia will fly out this week with both its number one ranking and 13-year unbeaten run in one-day series here intact, after taking an unassailable 4-2 lead over India,” the newspaper said. “Forty-five minutes of lethal new-ball bowling from Doug Bollinger and Mitchell Johnson paved the way for the six-wicket win at the Nehru Stadium at Guwahati.”

Cricket Australia on Sunday confirmed Hopes would return to Australia to continue his recovery from a right hamstring injury suffered during the first ODI at Vadodara. “James has done everything he can with medical staff to try and make himself available for the remaining games of the tour of India,” Cricket Australia physiotherapist Kevin Sims said.

“However, due to the compressed nature of this tour and his speed of recovery so far, we feel now we have insufficient time to have James fully fit to take part in the remaining games of this series. Therefore a decision has been made that James will return to Australia where he will continue his rehabilitation from this hamstring injury,” he said.

Australia’s National Selection Committee has named Victorian fast bowler Clinton McKay a replacement player for the injured Brett Lee, who too has been ruled out of the series and has returned home, while New South Wales all-rounder Moises Henriques will now remain with the squad for the remainder of the series.

“With the injuries to Brett Lee and James Hopes and both of these players returning to Australia, the National Selection Panel has taken the opportunity to add another bowler to the squad in Clinton McKay,” said NSP Chairman Andrew Hilditch. “Clinton is a young promising bowler who performed well at interstate level last season and has recently shown very good form for Victoria in the Champions League in India.”

“He will be very well suited to Indian conditions and we believe he is another young player to benefit from the experience of being in the Australian team set-up during this tour. We also feel he has the ability to perform well at the international level,” Hilditch said. “With Moises having played in the last ODI game and James Hopes going home, Moises will now remain with the squad in India for the duration of the series.”

Earlier, Australia had come to the tour without key players like Michael Clarke, Nathan Bracken, Brad Haddin and Callum Ferguson.  In the team in place of Brad Haddin, wicketkeeper Tim Paine was also ruled out after a finger injury and Graham Manou made his international debut coming in for him at Nagpur.

Manou was busy watching movies when the news was announced that Paine will be returning back home. He went to the state training as usual and ran into Jamie Cox, a national selector, who asked him to pack his bags and get ready to go to India.

“It’s straight into the cauldron of one of the toughest environments in world cricket,” he said. “It’s going to be a fantastic challenge and hopefully I can learn from it and bring the experience back to our group.” He will also be able to pass on some tips to his partner Tamsyn Lewis, the middle-distance runner, who is looking towards the Commonwealth Games in Delhi next year.

“After this experience and the Ashes, you could say you could be pretty happy, but I’ll certainly be wanting more,” he said. “Fingers crossed this part of the tour goes well.”

Manou, 30, is a Cricket Australia contracted player. He last played in the Ashes series early this year when Brad Haddin got injured. His call up will now allow Shaun Marsh to go back to the top of the order and Manou can bat in the lower middle order. Paine has done well in whatever opportunities he has got at opening the batting, preventing a quick return for Marsh after a series of hamstring injuries. He fractured a ring finger taking a Peter Siddle delivery in the 99-run loss to India on Wednesday.

“Graham richly deserves this opportunity following his Ashes debut and his successful domestic season last year in all forms of the game,” Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, said. The main competition for Manou came from Chris Hartley, who was called to play a tour game in England when both Haddin and Manou were injured.

Hartley has started at the top of the order in Queensland’s past two FR Cup matches and posted half-centuries, but the selectors have kept faith in Manou. The South Australian captain is a middle order batsman and is considered one of the best wicket-keepers in Australia.

Haddin is not quite ready for international responsibilities after a finger surgery following the injury he picked up in England and will play instead in a one-day match for New South Wales on Sunday. “It is premature for Brad to resume cricket for Australia,” Hilditch said, “having not played first-class cricket since The Oval Ashes Test.”

Paine’s injury adds to a horror run for the Australians, who have concerns over Brett Lee and James Hopes, and had Michael Clarke, Nathan Bracken and Callum Ferguson unavailable for the tour.

“Tim has a broken finger. He will be going back home and we haven’t decided on his replacement. The replacement should be available for the next match in Delhi,” visiting team skipper Ricky Ponting said after the match. Paine, who himself was a replacement for the regular wicket-keeper Brad Haddin who is already on the injured list and is not with the touring party, suffered the injury while trying to collect a bouncing delivery from speedster Peter Siddle in the eighth over of the Indian innings.

Talking about the comprehensive 99-run defeat suffered by his team today at the hands of the hosts, Ponting said Australia were totally outplayed.

“India seized the momentum early on. They batted very well, Dhoni and Gambhir initially and then Raina. And once we were 45 for three we were out of the game. Our batsmen had everything to lose and nothing to gain today. Unfortunately, we ended up on the losing side,” Ponting said.

Ponting defended his decision to field first as he said batting was his team’s stronger suit today in the absence of Brett Lee and James Hopes due to injuries.  ”It’s not often that I decide to bowl on winning the toss. I thought our batting was strong and we could chase comfortably. But India upset the calculations,” Ponting said. He said Lee could have made a difference as he had been bowling well.

“It could’ve made a difference. Brett has been bowling very well. But it was also an opportunity for the others to showcase their talent. Unfortunately, we came up a bit short,” he said.

Ponting lamented the death bowling woes faced by his team after the retirement of pace great Glenn McGrath. “Ever since Glenn McGrath has moved out, the death overs have been a problem. We were a few centimeters away from executing our plans today,” he said.

India required 9 runs to win off the last over but in the end it was Peter Siddle who held on to his nerves better as he clean bowled Harbhajan Singh (49) off the second ball of the 50^th over. Ashish Nehra was left with six to score off the last ball which proved a bit too much for a No.10 batsman. The Australians finally won the game by 4 runs.

Earlier, the Australian top order took full advantage of some lackluster Indian bowling notching up a huge score of 292 for 8. Ricky Ponting led the way for the Aussies with a brilliant 74 and was amply supported by Michael Hussey (73), Tim Paine (50) and Cameron White (50).

Australia suffered an early blow when Watson fell off the eighth ball, before recovering superbly through a near-century stand between Ponting and Paine. The good start was built upon by half-centuries from White and Hussey as the Indian bowling, which has struggled of late, was put to the sword in merciless fashion.

On a day characterised by some poor fielding and wayward bowling, the only respite for India was that speedster Ishant Sharma seemed to be getting back into his rhythm, finishing with figures of 3 for 50.

India began their chase in style with Virender Sehwag hitting the first two deliveries of the innings from Lee for boundaries. But Lee settled score by getting rid off Sehwag by having the batsman caught for 13 in 11 balls. India lost another big wicket when Sachin Tendulkar drove a wide ball from Watson up into a packed off-side field and Ponting took a blinder at short cover-point.

Virat Kohli, playing in company of Delhi teammate Gambhir, steadied the rocking ship with a stand of 58 in 75 balls and the pair raised the 100 in the 19th over when Kohli (30) went for a big shot of Adam Voges and was caught at long-on by Shane Watson.

Gambhir and Dhoni then put together a partnership of 64 runs for the fourth wicket before Mitchell Johnson first removed Gambhir (68) off the first ball of the batting powerplay, ruining India’s plans to step up the scoring rate. He then caught and bowled Suresh Raina to leave India at 183 for five in the 37th over. It was left to Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja to guide India home but the Indian skipper got out soon, trying to loft Watson and giving a tame catch to Lee at mid on. Jadeja followed soon as he was trapped in front of the wickets by Hauritz.

At 201 for seven in their pursuit of a 293-run victory target, India seemed heading for a comprehensive defeat before Praveen (40 not out) and Harbhajan (49) came up with a defiant 84-run stand off 57 balls for the eighth wicket that nearly took them home.

Harbhajan and Praveen brought down the target to 30 from the last 15 balls and then nine from the last six. But once Harbhajan departed off the second ball of the final over from Peter Siddle, India lost the momentum and Australia stopped the hosts four runs short of their total. For Australia, Johnson led the bowling with two for 59, while Watson secured 2 for 70.

It was a classic game of 50-over cricket where the fortunes fluctuated from one team to the other throughout the match. With T20 cricket threatening the existence of the 50-over format, we would need these kind of matches more often to show the relevance of the One-day format.

Brief Scores:

Australia 292 for 8 (Ponting 74, Hussey 73, White 51, Paine 50, Ishant 3-50) beat India 288 for 8 (Gambhir 68, Harbhajan 49) by 4 runs

Man of the Match: Michael Hussey

But this time when the Aussies face off against India in a seven-match series starting on Sunday at Vadodara, we may not witness too many such incidents because the Australian players now feel a bit awkward to sledge Indian players, some of whom have become very good friends post the Indian Premier League.

“It is easier to get under the skin of a person if you don’t know him personally. But thanks to the Indian Premier League, we know many of the (Indian) players and hence it becomes awkward sometimes,” says all-rounder James Hopes. “Things can get a bit heated when you are on the field but the difference from the earlier times is that it will be restricted on the field. Once the match is over we clarify all the issues off the field.”

Meanwhile, wicketkeeper Tim Paine also replied in the negative when asked about on-ground sledging. “I have done it a few times in the domestic matches but yet to open my mouth in the international matches. If I have to say anything, I would rather say it to the bowler and the skipper,” Paine said.

Australia speedster Mitchell Johnson, who has already talked about giving chin music to the Indian batsmen, recalls an incident when he tried to sledge Rahul Dravid during last year’s Delhi Test.

“I hoped to put Rahul Dravid off his game and really sledged him. He was batting on 50-plus. But he hardly reacts. I realised soon that I was wasting my breath,” he said.