Ganguly to miss third one-dayer

Chennai, January 24: Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has been ruled out for Friday's crunch one-day game against England after he aggravated a hamstring injury today and leg spinner Anil Kumble was most likely to lead the Indian side in his absence.

"During a normal fielding practice session, Ganguly aggravated a hamstring injury," coach John Wright told reporters here this evening.

However, Ganguly would be back in the side for the remaining three matches, Cricket Board secretary Niranjan Shah said.

Shah said the MRI scan on Ganguly had been found to be okay and there was no threat of his missing the remaining matches.

Meanwhile, sources in Board headquarters ruled out Sachin Tendulkar leading India in tomorrow's game and all indications were that Kumble would be asked to don the role while all-rounder Sanjay Bangar was likely to take Ganguly's place in the team.

The sources said either V V S Laxman or Virender Sehwag would be asked to open the innings with Tendulkar tomorrow with latter being the front-runner for the job. Sehwag has hit his only one-day century when he came as an opener in Sri Lanka last year.

Wright said Ganguly's absence would also necessitate some changes in the batting order which would be sorted out later.

England coach Duncan Fletcher said his side was not worried about whether Ganguly would play tomorrow or not. "That is India's problem. We are not concerned with that. But we are sure whoever comes in his place would also be very good," he said.

Fletcher was not ready to commit himself on whether Graham Thorpe and Andrew Caddick would play tomorrow or not. "It is difficult to say. They are senior players. We will like them to play," he said.

Meanwhile, Wright said the mood in the Indian camp was upbeat despite the loss in Cuttack. "We missed an opportunity there. We would like to improve on it," he said.

On the crucial run outs in the previous game, Wright said Tendulkar's dismissal was unfortunate but "such things do happen in the game. The run outs cost us dearly. Also we did not have the patience in chasing the target."