Arriving in Delhi

Day one – arrive Delhi

I am travelling to watch the second test and taking in some of the sights beforehand and then relaxing in Goa afterwards. The tour has been organised by The Cricket Tour Company.

I went with the same company to New Zealand and they had a good balance between efficiency and friendly approach, small groups and reasonable value for money (i use the word reasonable just in case they read this and look to increase their prices!). They had managed very well with the chaos after the Mumbai attack and i always had confidence that they would organise something provided it was safe to travel.

So flight direct to Delhi and my trip to India started. Local guide Amit met us at the airport and we had our first sight of driving in India between Airport and Hotel.

Now this is probably a good time to try (and to be honest its impossible) and describe the roads in India.

At first glance it appears like chaos on the streets with cars beeping vans, vans beeping three wheelers, three wheelers tooting rickshaws/people on the street. But after a while it makes sense. Use of the horn is not an aggressive approach but just a polite “hello I'm here – would you mind getting out of thew way”. Well not quite but despite the apparent mayhem the traffic moves (well something akin to M25 on a Friday evening) and I have yet to see an accident. Over the next few days, travelling outside Delhi, you get used to Cows, Water Buffalo or other animals on side, in middle and all over the road and also cars coming towards you in the fast lane of your side of the road. Just to repeat no accidents seen to date but the cars do appear to have a few scratches here or there.

The Cricket – Plenty of time to watch the highlights on TV (repeated all evening).

England falter after Strauss Ton

England start well with Strauss/Cook having their first partnership of any note for some while. Not much from the middle order and the position ends nicely poised. Given the recent one day performances and the turmoil, overall better than expectations.