‘At home’ Bangladesh look to turn fortunes around against the Netherlands, as Kolkata leg of World Cup kicks off | Cricket-world-cup News

As the final sound of the dhak fades into the dance, marking the end of Bengal’s most famous festival, the City of Joy will wake up to the riffs and flavours of another carnival, as the World Cup weaves its way into Kolkata. The city has yet to wake up from celebrations of the days gone . The storied Eden Gardens is all decked up, wonderfully lit in the night and gearing up to leave its imprints on the tournament, though the buzz has so far been missing. But it could all change in the coming weeks, as the tournament would kick off in the city when Bangladesh encounter the Netherlands on Saturday.
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The relative low-profile nature of the teams, though a contest that has the potential to thrill, is an appetizer of sorts for the big games lined up in the coming weeks. Both teams are practically out of semifinal contention, having won just one of their five games, though both would look to pick a few more points and end the tournament on respectable note. Even more so for Bangladesh, who have looked utterly flat in this edition.
They, though, would hope for a good turnout at the venue because of the support that the team horically enjoys here. Pacer Taskin Ahmed played up the crowd factor, saying, “When there’s a crowd cheering us on, it gives us motivation. With the match in Kolkata, a lot of people from Bangladesh will come to watch the match and there will be our Bengali brothers from here whose support will obviously inspire us.”
Both teams have one win each in the campaign with their semifinal aspirations dangling a thread. A victory here might not change anything but there’s always a chance, even if it’s an outside one, a thought echoed Ahmed in the pre-match press conference.
“It’s not finished yet. There are still 4 more games to go. If we can win those 4, anything can happen as there is a run rate factor. Afghanan and Sri Lanka beat a team like England so if we can win four, that’ll be a different story but at the moment, we are planning to go match match. We didn’t play well enough in both batting and bowling units but there’s still 4 games to go so we are looking forward to doing well in those,” the 28-year-old said.
Taskin, who was forced to miss out the last two games due to a shoulder injury, hinted that he’ll be available for the match. “I played in Eden in the 2016 World Cup and hopefully I’ll play tomorrow as well,” he said.
For captain Shakib al Hasan, Eden Gardens is like his second home, having represented Kolkata Knight Riders for a long time. A devastating all-rounder, who on his day is capable of turning a match on its head, this edition of the tournament hasn’t been kind to him. He has taken six wickets and scored 56 runs in the matches so far, something that he will look to rectify in the upcoming matches.Most Read
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The batters have blown hot and cold as a unit.. Najmul Hossain Shanto and Towhid Hridoy have flattered to deceive while veteran Mahmudullah, who scored a century against South Africa, and Litton Das have looked in good nick.
Low after high
Meanwhile, Netherlands, who were on a high after defeating South Africa, came crashing back to reality after losing back-to-back matches against Sri Lanka and Australia. The loss against the Aussies would hurt more as the Orange army was completely outclassed in both batting and bowling departments. Their star Bas de Leede gave away 115 runs in 10 overs, courtesy of a Glenn Maxwell onslaught while their batting lineup collapsed at 90 while chasing 399, giving the Aussies a mammoth 309-run win.
Skipper Scott Edwards, though, remained hopeful that they can still get something from Saturday’s match, saying that they’ll look to rectify their batting makes while keeping his opening bowling strategy closer to his chest. Asked if he’ll start with an off-spinner in the pace-friendly wicket of Eden, he said with a smile, “Without giving too much away, we’ll look at the wicket and the Bangladesh batters and see how we match up against them. Don’t know if we’ll be letting too many secrets out.”