Team India in Dhaka in a catch-me-if-you-can game with rains

Dhaka, May 23 (UNI) After playing cat and mouse with the rains for the better part of the series, Team India can be assured of uninterrupted final Test at the Mirpur Stadium commencing May 25.

The Indian team returned to Dhaka for their last leg after a frustrating 10-day stint at Chittagong where the final ODI was washed away by the rains and then more than 15 hours of game was lost in the first test which robbed the visitors of keeping their all win record against Bangladesh intact.

Indian skipper Rahul Dravid could not hide his frustration when in the post-match press meet he said, ''Ideally, the timing of the series could have been better. But schedules are cramped .......over cramped if you ask me so I don't know how we are going to fit everything in.'' Asked what the solution to this problem is, he said, ''The solution is that we have to get the scheduling right and try to get certain number of Tests and ODIs and try not to exceed that number and plan your tours well.'' ''At the end of the day, quality is important and as an international player you want to give quality cricket to people,'' he added.

The weather forecast for the next few days predicts bright sunny days and the team hopes that it remains the same. But in Bangladesh weather is as unpredictable as it gets.

In Chittagong the sun and clouds continued to play hide and seek all through the past ten days and hurricane Akash missed the port city by the skin of the teeth amid mike announcements for the people to stay indoors and asking the fishermen not to venture out to the sea.

One such cyclone that lashed Bangladesh in 1991 claiming lakhs of lives.

Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore said, ''Its really frustrating not to have game over for one and half days. The match could have been so interesting.'' Incidentally not a single day of the series has been without rains. The first and second ODIs played at Mirpur here were also truncated after showers in the morning left the conditions unplayable.

Umpire Billy Doctrove, whiling away in the hotel, said, ''It does not make sense sitting inside the hotel when the two teams should be playing.'' UNI BA SAM BD1324