DHAKA, April 14: India captain Saurav Ganguly is likely to sit out of the match against Bangladesh on Wednesday to give rest to his troubled back.

In the event of Ganguly opting out, Virender Sehwag, stand-in vice-captain in absence of Rahul Dravid, will get honour to lead the team for first time in his career.

With India virtually assured of a place in Sunday’s final, having won both their matches so far, Ganguly does not want to take risk of aggravating the injury and expressed his desire to be rested, team sources said on Monday.

The 30-year-old skipper has been afflicted with back problem for quite some time now and had even decided not to participate in the tri-series here but changed his mind after a number of key players opted out on various grounds.

Left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan, who suffered a hamstring injury in Sunday’s match against South Africa, may also be rested for the remaining two preliminary round matches.

The team management is quite happy with performance of other two pace bowlers — Ajit Agarkar and newcomer Avishkar Salvi — and would not like to field Zaheer in unimportant matches.

Ganguly had indicated prior to the tri-series he would try out all newcomers in the tournament. He kept his word and three players have already made their debut in the tournament so far.—PPI