Post Card from India: `Prawns, steaks, and as always butter chicken'

So, Jamshedpur came and went. You may have heard about our plane ride. It was the equivalent of the old volksie beetle in car terms. An absolute nightmare. The 15 seater wup-wup was rusted to hell and I was wondering if we'd fall through the fuselage if we hit an air pocket. But surprise, surprise it held together and we made it there and back in one piece. However, notable exceptions on the return leg were two coaches, who took the train back from Jamshedpur to Calcutta; they say it was for the scenic ride, we know they were already out of fingernails.

Jamshedpur is actually quite a nice town. It is centered round the Tata Steel company and they were our hosts for a function the night before the match. The town was extremely clean and the cricket ground that borders the athletics track was built by the Tata Steel company. The dinner was held in the picturesque garden of the MD's home behind our hotel. We had prawns! steaks! and, as always butter chicken. Good eating.

We eventually got to our destination, New Delhi for the next game to be played in Faridabad, which is an hour and a half bus trip each way from the hotel in Delhi. This meant a 5.30 am wake-up call on match day and leaving the hotel at 6.15 am to get to the ground and start warm-ups by 7.45 am. Needless to say all the guys took a pillow on the bus to try and make up some sleep.

The result of the game went our way. Surprising as it was, as the day before the game during our practice, the wicket had a lot of grass on it. However, when Kapil and Ganguly arrived, there was a very animated discussion that resulted in the ground staff coming out with scissors and blades to shave the wicket.

After practice, we returned to the hotel, showered and immediately left for a cocktail function at the SA Ambassador's residence. Much to our delight this was the first time we had seen castle beer and the guys really enjoyed a few of the sponsors cheekies.

So far, this part of the tour does not allow us for much getting out and sightseeing because the one-dayers are backed up on themselves every second day. Thus, we play and leave the same night or early the next morning to get to the next venue and then have a practice and prepare for the game the next day. At the moment we are sitting in the departure lounge of Baroda's airport waiting for a flight to Mumbai to connect with another flight to Nagpur for the last game on Sunday. We expect to get to the hotel around midnight.

The boys are obviously a bit despondent about losing the one-day series. We were pretty much out of the match and then thrown a lifeline by taking a few wickets and getting the rate up only to be denied going into the last game two all. That's life.

With that, it's good night till next time.