A man was jostling for space to take a picture of Andre Russell as the KKR team bus arrived at Eden Gardens on Saturday afternoon.
Some 200m away, another man was looking for a Rinku Singh jersey near the Mohammedan Sporting ground, where many had come to collect their online tickets.
The first man came from Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital. The second came from Perth in Western Australia.
A visit to Eden Gardens and surrounding areas on the eve of the first of a series of home matches for KKR was a pointer to how the IPL caravan pulls in people from all over.
Around 3.10pm, there was a spring in the steps of police deployed outside Eden as they barricaded a slice of the road in front of the stadium. Within minutes, a crowd gathered, as if on cue. The KKR team bus rolled in moments later and the decibel soared. Many in the crowd tried climbing the barricades to see their favourite stars.
Masudur Rahman was one of them. His wife stood behind as Rahman tried taking a picture of Dre Russ as he got off the bus and walked briskly into the stadium.
Rahman and Farzana live in Mirpur, Dhaka. "I am desperately trying to get tickets for one of the matches at Eden Gardens. I am a cricket addict and have watched many matches in Bangladesh. A high point was watching Sachin Tendulkar at the Sher-e Bangla National Stadium (in Mirpur) in 2012. I am yet to see a game at the iconic Eden Gardens," said Rahman, a chartered accountant visiting Kolkata for the first time.
Rahman has played first-division cricket in Bangladesh. "Rohit Sharma and Eden Gardens are the biggest attractions for me in Indian cricket right now," he said.
The loudest cheer in the KKR squad was reserved for Russell and Rinku Singh.
The same trend was spotted in the sale of KKR shirts. Around a dozen people selling team jerseys near the counters — where people came to collect online tickets — were busy through the day.
"Rinku and Russell jerseys are in great demand," said Pradip Das, one of the sellers.
Looking for an "XXXL" Rinku shirt was Stuart Pether, beefy and towering at six feet and two inches. He had to settle for a smaller size.
Stuart Pether from Australia in front of Md Sporting Club ticket counter day before KKR vs LSG at Eden Gardens Kolkata on Saturday afternoon
Pether, a mining engineer from Perth, is on an IPL trip. He landed a week ago and has watched matches in Chennai, Jaipur and Lucknow. Two KKR games at Eden and a match each at Mullanpur in Punjab, Delhi and Lucknow are awaiting him before he leaves next Sunday.
"The IPL is the best league in the world. Big Bash (Australian men's professional club T20 cricket league) will come second. What the IPL has done is create a global cricket community.
"Earlier, a player would swear at a rival country player. Now, they play together in the same team in the IPL. They will still play hard when they lock horns in an international match. But that bad blood is usually not there anymore. The game is played in the proper spirit," said Pether.
Spectators, a varied lot of them, were also part of the community that Pether talked of. Many of them were kicked before their Eden debut on Sunday.
Like M.N. Rahman, wife Pupul, son Rohan and daughter Anushka, who bargained for KKR jerseys on Saturday afternoon. The family came from Purulia.
Or like Nabanita Das, who came from Bandel in Hooghly district. Das grew up in Siang district in Arunachal Pradesh and shifted base to her family home in Hooghly seven years ago.
Waiting for the KKR team bus were Mainak Das and his wife Titas Maiti, their four-year-old son Madhurjya in tow. Das is a regular at IPL games at Eden.
Ankit Mishra has just taken his Class X board exams in Pune and has come to his maternal grandparents in New Town. On Saturday, the "die-hard KKR fan" came to collect his online tickets with his mother Madhurima.
"It is going to be a dream come true," Mishra said after collecting his tickets.
