KOLKATA: The sole Indian flag that the fan was waving lustily on the left of the Eden Gardens Club House was conspicuous by the incongruity of the setting.
Bangladesh and Pakistan were playing the second game of the group, and the spectators were clearly split in their allegiance: it was either Pakistan or Bangladesh for them.
The lone Indian Tricolour was a bit of a misfit at the Eden on Wednesday evening.
The vocal cheering for the two teams was actually the topic of discussion in the media enclosure above the VIP stands. Who was the crowd cheering for?
If loyalty could be computed, what would the ratio of the allegiance be that the two sides commanded among the estimated 40,000-strong crowd?
The guesstimates were varied. “80-20,” said an Indian journalist. “Way off,” responded another.
“More like 60-40.” It was a matter of debate with no unanimity on the numbers behind each team. But the pressmen agreed that the crowd was solidly behind Pakistan.
Perhaps in a nod to Afridi’s statement on Sunday that the ‘team felt more loved in India than back home’, the crowds that turned up at the Eden to support his team on Wednesday was predominantly Indian.
Bangladeshi fans, too, had arrived across the border in droves; the eastern state of West Bengal — of which Kolkata is the capital city — is after all contiguous with Bangladesh.
The cheaper hotels in central Kolkata were overrun with Bangladeshi fans, who had turned up in groups, waving the national flag and painted yellow-and-black, the colour of the Royal Bengal tiger, found in the Sunderbans.
But in the end, the tigers were drowned by raucous Indian fans supporting Pakistan.
The floodlights came on around a little after 5pm, and soon hundreds of cellphone flashlights gleamed as fans clicked away.
The crowd support was something even senior pro Mohammad Hafeez commented on in a press meet after the match.
“We see it here in Kolkata, we hear people shouting jeetega bhai jeetega, Pakistan jeetega (Pakistan will win) … it feels good. Gives confidence.”
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza said it was not as if his team lacked support.
“There were many who supported us too. And our planning was not made on the basis of crowd support,” he said.
Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2016
