All tickets for the much-awaited match were sold out on Sunday, two days ahead of schedule. Against 15,000 seats at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium, the authority sold 14,000 tickets through eight branches of the Arab Bangladesh Bank in the port city, sources said.

Huge crowd from all walks of life were seen gather at the AB Bank branches for tickets till yesterday but the cricket lovers who queued before the bank counters had to return empty handed.

It is alleged some vested quarters bought five to 10 tickets per head with an ill motive of selling those in the black market. The spectators suspected tickets would be available for a higher rate at the venue. But the unruly weather is all set to spoil the ticket touts' party.

The rain is also set to rule out the home debut for Tamim Iqbal, the local boy who has won a lot of praise from his captain.

"I always tell him not to play for the crowd. The crowd would want you to hit sixes every ball if possible but if someone tries to do that, one can't play a big innings. I tell him to play long innings all the time, which will do him good," said Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar yesterday.

"He has given us a good start almost every time and has a good future so he must play for himself at the top of the order," remarked Bashar.