NEW DELHI, April 7: Former Test batsman Ashok Malhotra will coach India in the early games of the one-day tri-series starting in Dhaka on Friday.

Malhotra will do the job until John Wright, in New Zealand following his father’s death, returns to take over, according to Karunakaran Nair, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The BCCI had earlier said Wright would miss the whole April 11-20 tournament.

Nair denied media reports that captain Saurav Ganguly may not travel to Dhaka because of a back strain.

“He has not told us anything,” he said. “He will be leading the team.”

India, who lost to Australia in last month’s World Cup final, will be without Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Ashish Nehra due to injuries, while Javagal Srinath and Anil Kumble have opted out of the trip.

Meanwhile, security will be beefed up during the triangular one-day series involving India, South Africa and Bangladesh starting later this week, officials said on Monday.

Bangladesh face India in the tournament’s opening match on Friday.

“The authorities have accepted our appeal to deploy adequate security forces during the series,” Nurul Kabir Shaheen, a Bangladesh Cricket Board official, said.—Reuters