And local people believed that it would be surprising if the match were not affected by further rain because June-July always brings heavy shower to the city.

But the problem for the usually vulnerable Bangladesh top-order furthered, as they had to bat in a stop-start situation, something that they are not used to. Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful also believed that it could have been a much better first innings showing than the first two games if rain didn't halt play so often.

"The wicket was fantastic before rain started to play foul. Actually we are not used to playing under such conditions. After the break, the ball was skidding on the pitch and bowlers got extra bounce. That's why we lost the wicket of Bashar bhai. Actually it was hard to concentrate in this situation," said Ashraful, who was unbeaten on four.

But in the end, the new Bangladesh captain looked gloomy because opener Shahriar Nafees threw away his wicket although he looked well set in the middle. It seemed that Ashraful lost a small battle after Nafees made the same mistakes he had committed in his previous knocks.

There were strong opinions in the team management that the left-hander deserved a break after he repeatedly made the same mistakes. In the last two games, Nafees got off to good starts but only to spoil those by playing wild shots. As a result, most members of the think-tank were in favour of giving him a breather but the captain stood by him.

What annoyed them most was Nafees's attitude as it was learned that he defended his tendency of playing too many shots during the team meeting. Many were irritated by his arrogance, as they believed that confidence is good but overconfidence always invites trouble, a problem that was found in Hannan Sarker previously.

"It is frustrating because he looked so good. The way he got out was really frustrating but this can happen. I also made the same mistakes in the first Test so I am not sure whether confidence or overconfidence played a role behind the suicidal effort," said Ashraful.

"But I still believe that he is in good touch and only needs a big score to get back to his rhythm. We still have an innings in hand, so it would be unwise to say anything about him," he added.

The 23-year old Bangladesh skipper was however optimistic about his team's turnaround in the first innings.

"I think it is still possible to make a decent total. I am hopeful because we still have three specialist batsmen who are to bat tomorrow," said Ashraful, who slammed a century in the second innings of the second game at the P Sara in Colombo.

Nafees however said that he went for the sweep shot to release the pressure against Muttiah Muralitharan.

"It's really frustrating the way I got out after making another good start. Actually I struggle to defend against Murali so I went for a sweep shot which was ultimately mistimed," he explained.

But the fact was that he failed to pay back his captain's confidence on him in his first challenge.