Australian speedster Brett Lee might end his career without playing a Test in India after skipper Ricky Ponting ruled out any change in the bowling combination of the team currently touring the subcontinent.

Ponting, who will leave for India on Friday after recovering from a thumb injury, said Lee would probably have to wait till the home season before he gets to play a Test match.

"Unfortunately he (Lee) is not getting a crack at the moment but we have got a lot of Test matches to play in Australia this summer and I am sure he will play a part in those," the Aussie skipper said.

The 27-year-old paceman has been languishing on the sidelines after Michael Kasprowicz was preferred ahead of him in the two of the four Tests Australia have played against India so far.

With the Aussies not scheduled to tour India again till 2010, Ponting's comments means subcontinent fans would have to satisfy themselves with seeing Lee only on television commercials and billboards.

"Lee has been out of the side for a long time and the guys who have been in the side when he has been out have done very, very well," Ponting said.

"Michael Kasprowicz has been absolutely outstanding in both forms of the game since he has been back in the side," said Ponting.

"Jason Gillespie has recently been picked in both World XI teams and Glenn McGrath has obviously been bowling very well at the moment.

"Someone is always going to be unlucky, Brett is the unlucky one at the moment," he added.

Ponting, who missed the first two Tests and would also sit out of the third match in Nagpur from Tuesday, is expected to be back in the team for the fourth Test starting in Mumbai on November 3.

The Aussie skipper also said he would use a "protective guard" for the thumb which he broke during the ICC Champions Trophy in England last month while fielding.

"I will test things out when I first get there. The first couple of days when I get there I will just go pretty easily with catching and fielding drills. I just want to get used to the feeling of the ball back in my hands again and take it pretty slowly," he said.

"But I have had some protective guards made for fielding, if I am not overly confident but I have still got another two weeks until the fourth Test comes around and by then I should be confident with it."

The recovery of Ponting also means the selectors will have to make a choice between probably Darren Lehmann and Michael Clarke for the fourth Test.