Over three weeks and 26 matches later, the World Cup bandwagon will finally roll into the Eden Gardens. For this cricket-crazy city still basking in the afterglow of its biggest festival, Saturday’s joust between Bangladesh and the Netherlands was to be the appetiser before the more exciting encounters here. It was, after all, an unequal contest involving a Test-playing nation and an aspirant that shows up at this level only occasionally.

Much of that has changed in recent weeks and the ‘Tigers’, in the midst of a disappointing campaign, are up against a team who have not just been competitive but scripted one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history. Notwithstanding their crushing defeat to Australia on Wednesday, last week’s victory over South Africa remains a stunning statement on the capabilities of the Men in Orange.