Ganguly to miss third ODI against England

Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has been ruled out for Friday's crunch one-day game against England after he aggravated a hamstring injury on Thursday 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, BCCI 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 of Control for Cricket in India headquarters ruled out Sachin Tendulkar leading India in Friday'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.

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Mail Cricket Editor