Chittagong, May 15: The third and final cricket one-day match between India and Bangladesh was called off without a ball being bowled due to soggy ground conditions here today, dashing India's hopes of making a clean sweep of the series.

The Indians had to be content with a 2-0 victory margin as 'Hurricane Akash' ruined chances of any play at the Bir Sreshta Shahid Nurul Amin stadium, which was completely water-logged due to heavy overnight rain.

Hours of hard labour put in by the groundsmen went waste, as match referee Roshan Mahanama declared the game abandoned after the day's third inspection at 1 p.m. local time.

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"The ground is wet. They will need at least two hours to dry the ground. Play is not possible under these circumstances," Mahanama said.

Mahanama, along with the two umpires Ashoka de Silva of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh's Enamul Haq, earlier inspected the ground at 9.20 a.m. and 12 noon, and postponed the start of the match hoping the conditions would improve.

The super-sopper was pressed into action repeatedly to dry the ground, as the groundsmen did frantic mop-up operations using buckets and sponges to soak the water.

Hundreds of cricket fans stood patiently in the queue for hours to enter the 15,000-capacity stadium but the authorities kept the gates closed as there was uncertainty about the match. Finally, the fans were allowed in only a little before noon.

Hurricane Akash, which lashed nearby Cox Bazar and the St Martin island, before moving on to Mayanmar, brought rains with the sun shining brightly only at 1 pm ironically the same time when the match was called off.

Danger signal number seven, given only in case of a natural calamity of high magnitude, was hoisted in the city from last evening and there were repeated warnings to the public not to venture near the coast.

The hurricane's effects saw two canopies giving way last night, as a overhead plastic water tank also came down.

Today's match was only of academic interest as India had already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead by winning the first match by five wickets and the second by 46 runs.

The two teams will now feature in a two-match Test series beginning here on May 18. The second Test will be played at Mirpur from May 25. (Agencies)