SYDNEY, Jan 1: Steve Waugh said Australia's cricketers cannot afford to let the emotion surrounding his farewell interfere with trying to win the final Test with India starting on Friday.

With the series tied at 1-1, Australia need to win the fourth and final test in Sydney to regain the Border-Gavaskar trophy and Waugh's retirement has only added to the occasion.

"It's going to be a great contest. Both sides believe they can win the deciding Test match and that doesn't often happen," Waugh told a news conference on Thursday.

"I know there's going to be a lot of emotion out there and a lot of goodwill but the guys all know the significance of the occasion really is secondary." The Australians haven't lost a Test series at home in a decade but are under pressure to send their inspirational captain out on a winning note.

"We'll speak about it, but once we have spoken about it we will try to put it all behind us and just get out there and get on with playing," said captain-elect Ricky Ponting, who scored double centuries in the second and third Tests.

"That's all we can do and if you start thinking too much, it will overcome us when we're out there on the field." The Indians, who produced an amazing turnaround to win the second Test in Adelaide, are also worried about the distractions posed by Waugh's farewell.

Australia levelled the series by winning in Melbourne and Indian captain Saurav Ganguly said his players could not afford to let their concentration slip in Sydney.

"We respect Steve's contribution and we wish him good luck but we need to go on with our cricket," Ganguly said. "From our point of view it's a Test match and we need to win.

"After the first day in Melbourne a lot of people thought we would win the Test and we lost it because we had two poor sessions on the second day. "It's important to play well every session because when you play a top side one bad session can make a difference."

Both sides completed training on Thursday but deferred naming their teams until Friday morning. Australia are debating whether to risk their injury-prone fast bowlers Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee in their bowling mix.

Gillespie missed the third Test with a groin strain while Lee only made his comeback in Melbourne. Australia also have Brad Williams, Nathan Bracken and Andy Bichel in their squad, but Waugh said he hoped Gillespie and Lee would be part of a three-pronged pace attack.

"If I was the Indian batsmen, the two blokes I wouldn't want to see in the combination are Gillespie and Lee," Waugh said. Ganguly said India had nothing to fear from Lee and Gillespie and hinted he might even employ a second spinner on the notoriously slow SCG pitch.

"Once we get the idea of the wicket in the morning hopefully we can pick the right combination to do the job," Ganguly said. "We won in Adelaide with Gillespie playing and I thought we handled Lee well in Melbourne. We still know they're quality bowlers but we feel we have the batting to cope with it."

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