While Sourav says he will have to play in Melbourne, Kumble stands only a 50-50 chance

Calcutta: With Friday’s first tri-series final (at the MCG) against Australia drawing closer by the hour, Sourav Ganguly is battling a sore back and a stiff right calf muscle.

“I’m better, but need to continue working with the physio (Andrew Leipus)… After all, I’ve got to be on the field,” the Team India captain told The Telegraph, when contacted at the team hotel in Melbourne on Wednesday.

It’s largely because of a bad back that Sourav skipped the last league game, versus Zimbabwe. Yet, the calf muscle too has been playing up — a consequence, no doubt, of two months of non-stop (and very demanding) cricket.

Given Sourav’s determination and Leipus’ excellent record in facilitating recoveries, it’s unlikely that the captain won’t play at the MCG. However, there will be a question mark of sorts over his ability to force singles and convert ones into twos.

Incidentally, Thursday’s nets is going to determine whether Sourav will be able to field his first-choice XI. Specifically, much of the attention is going to be on Anil Kumble, who is recovering from a muscle tear in the bowling shoulder.

“At this moment, it’s 50-50 for Anil… We do need to play a specialist spinner and, if Anil still can’t make it, we will have to bring back (Murali) Kartik,” Sourav pointed out.

Despite a fine performance against Zimbabwe, in the last match, Amit Bhandari is almost surely going to be the one to make way for either Kumble or Kartik.

Sourav’s return, of course, will see the exit of either Rohan Gavaskar or Hemang Badani. As for Ajit Agarkar, he is going to take Ashish Nehra’s place.

While the second final is at the SCG on Sunday, a 1-1 scoreline will see the Gabba host the decider on February 10.