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The weather in Bangladesh, right from the start of India's tour, has been very unpredictable. Not surprisingly did the umpires wait for a few hours before deciding to call off the third one-day international in Chittagong on Tuesday.
The sun was shining brightly when the umpires, along with the two captains, made their decision. Had it come out a couple of hours earlier we might have well seen at least a Twenty20 game.
Overnight rain and cyclone predictions though didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the huge number of spectators who made it to the stadium quite early in the morning. They, in fact, bought tickets despite it being quite clear that there was absolutely no chance of play.
The 15,000-capacity Bir Shrestha Shahid Ruhul Amin Stadium had around 60 percent of the seats full. In the morning, the main entrance was totally blocked by jostling fans as media personnel and the teams tried to get into the stadium.
Asked whether the spectators would be refunded their money since there was no match, a Bangladesh Cricket Board official said the same tickets could be used to watch Day One of the first Test, begining in Chittagong on Friday.
India captain Rahul Dravid also seemed disappointed that the match was washed out, as it could have helped his boys gauge the conditions ahead of the Test.
"It is disappointing that we could not play a match today. When you come and can't play it's obviously going to be disappointing, but there's nothing much we can do about it. I am just hoping that the weather clears up and we can play a good Test match, starting in two days' time," he said.
Wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who scored a match-winning 91 not out in the first one-dayer at Dhaka, was named man of the series.
"I got the man of the series and the man of the match award after a long time. The last time I got it was against Sri Lanka and it has been more than a year now, so I am very happy," he said.
Dravid predicted a tougher time for the hosts in the two-match Test series.
"It is obviously going to be difficult for them [Bangladesh] in the Test matches, simply because they have not played that much of Test cricket. We have got a lot of our boys who played a lot of Test cricket and there is a lot of experience; so we expect to do well against them in both the Test matches. Hopefully, we can get some good weather and some good wickets and we hope to do really well," he said.
He added that pacer S Sreesanth is still struggling with the calf injury he sustained in the first ODI in Dhaka..
"Sreesanth will be assessed later in the evening by John Gloster. We will see if he is not pulling up right or he is not recovering as we hope he would; then we might consider keeping back one of the other quicks. We will have a fair idea maybe today evening or tomorrow morning. If John feels he can be okay then we won't keep back one of the other quicks," Dravid said.
The series triumph is a huge relief for the Indian team. It is their first ODI series win outside the country after beating Pakistan last year.
Dravid opted to dwell on the positives and credited the team for the success.
"The way we came back in the first one-dayer with five wickets down -- the partnership between [Mahendra Singh] Dhoni and [Dinesh] Karthik -- was a huge thing for us. In that game especially, from that situation to win the game gave us a lot of confidence going into the second game.
"I thought the bowling was good, especially in the second game. Both the fast bowlers and both the spinners bowled well in the second game. Gautam Gambhir got a hundred in the second match. So there were a few positives that we can take from the two games that we played," Dravid said.
Dhoni said the good performance in the series was extra special for him, as he started his international sojourn in December 2004 in Chittagong, but had got out for a duck then.
"I wanted to do well here. I made my debut here 26 months ago and I didn't have a good start. I got run-out off the very first ball I faced, so obviously wanted to do something in this series to really prove myself. I am really happy that I was able to fulfill my goal," Dhoni said.
Meanwhile, the players named in the Test team, joined the rest of the squad on Monday. The five players - Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, V V S Laxman and Rajesh Pawar - had an indoor session at the stadium on Tuesday.