Tigers look to end World Cup sorrow in City of Joy

Kolkata is nicknamed "The City of Joy" after a Dominique LaPierre novel which was later adapted into a movie as well. A great portion of the cricketing joy in the capital of West Bengal involves Sourav Ganguly, the "Prince of Calcutta". Thousands of eyes still yearn for a glimpse of Ganguly, even though it's been 15 years since his international retirement. 

The Eden Gardens in Kolkata has seen a lot of historic events unfold when it comes to cricket. But it's difficult to make out that a World Cup match is going to take place at the magnificent ground in a few hours' time. The lack of hype is evident. 

The Park Street in Kolkata, which sees a significant influx of Bangladeshi tourists on a regular basis, looked a colourful place with lights, banners and festoons and you might feel all this is for the World Cup but it's not. The city was given this look for the Durga Puja, the biggest yearly festival in West Bengal.

You will barely find any special arrangement for the World Cup in Kolkata. The mandatory banners and festoons outside the Eden Gardens failed to create any hype whatsoever. Just a few hours remain before the match, but the seats at the gallery still have dust. The handle of the door of the press box was painted just recently, probably in haste.

A lot has been said and written about the general lack of interest in non-India games and galleries have remained largely empty throughout the World Cup. Unsurprisingly, people in Kolkata have almost no interest in the clash between Bangladesh and the Netherlands on Saturday. 

The scenario, though, is different at the other side of the border. There has been a lot of chatter, mostly criticism, about Bangladesh's dismal performance in the tournament. But fans are trying wholeheartedly to encourage the cricketers to turn a corner. The presence of a host of travelling Bangladesh fans in Kolkata is responsible for whatever little hype there is in Kolkata about the match. 

Shahriar, a service holder, has travelled to Kolkata to see Bangladesh play. "I understand Bangladesh won't be able to make the semis," he says. "The match against the Netherlands won't be very enjoyable. But I am here to support my team."

Skipper Shakib Al Hasan took a break midway through the World Cup to have a couple of net sessions with childhood coach Nazmul Abedeen Fahim in Mirpur. This has not been received well by many cricket-watching people. 

"It was not a right decision [to return to Bangladesh], no matter what," says 50-year-old government service holder Rayhan Khondokar. "A lot of them are short of runs but have they gone back to the country? Did he go there to train? Because we have seen him do a lot of non-cricketing things in the middle of many series."

The Bangladesh squad trained under floodlights from 6 pm to 9 pm at the Eden Gardens on Thursday. Shakib joined the team on the same day and trained with the squad on Friday. In the pre-match press conference, pacer Taskin Ahmed said Shakib's decision to return to the country should be "appreciated".

While Shakib admitted that their World Cup dreams are all but over, Taskin insisted that there's still hope. "Our [semi-final] hopes are still alive. Anything can happen if we win the remaining four matches. Because net run rate will come into play. But we are thinking match by match. We are looking forward to doing well," the fast bowler said.

Taskin said Bangladesh are being extra cautious against the Dutch as there is "pressure of expectations". 

Bangladesh met the Netherlands in the World Cup just once in the World Cup before. In the 2011 encounter in Chattogram, the Tigers blew the Dutch away. But Scott Edwards' men will take heart from the six-wicket win over Bangladesh in 2010 in Glasgow. 

Bangladesh are back in Kolkata to play an ODI for the first time in 33 years. In the solitary 50-over game they played here, Bangladesh succumbed to a 71-run defeat against Sri Lanka.