World Cup Tour Diary
In the heart of Delhi, Afghan spirits soar in anticipation of World Cup showdown
Daya Sagar finds out the mood in Delhi's 'Mini Afghanistan' ahead of the India-Afghanistan clash
Daya Sagar
11-Oct-2023
In the vibrant enclave of Bhogal, nestled within Delhi's Jangpura, the atmosphere was electrified with anticipation as the World Cup match between India and Afghanistan drew near. Here, amongst Afghan refugee families and students, the spirit of the game ran deep, mirroring the fervour of a rivalry etched in cricketing history.
Amidst this fervent backdrop, the restaurant Mazaar in nearby Lajpat Nagar extended a culinary gesture of goodwill by sending delectable Afghan dishes like Manto, Aushak, and Kabuli Pulao to the hotel where the Afghan cricketers are staying in Delhi. In fact, team captain Hashmatullah Shahidi, wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz, and spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman graced the restaurant with their presence, savouring the flavours of home away from home.
Jangpura's Bhogal area, fondly referred to as 'Mini Afghanistan', became the epicenter of anticipation, with Afghan youth like Mohammad Usman exemplifying the unique fusion of identity that pervades the community. Having arrived in India from Kandahar in 2015, Usman is now a Political Science undergraduate at Delhi University's Dayal Singh College. His enthusiasm for cricket extends primarily to fixtures involving India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, with a particular fondness for the seasoned Mohammad Nabi.
Full postSampling Virat Kohli's favourite dish of old
In Delhi for the cricket and the food, our reporter tries some of the city's favourite offerings
Yash Jha
10-Oct-2023
The second leg of my travels this World Cup has brought me back "home" - Delhi is where I lived until moving to Mumbai in early 2022. The streets here are colourful, the language more so.
I'd hoped for more of a World Cup buzz in the city, having heard of the solid atmosphere that accompanied Saturday's run-fest between South Africa and Sri Lanka at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, but quite like the matches assigned to the capital, the tournament in these parts feels not-so-high-profile. Chennai had giant World Cup signage right as you exited the airport; Delhi - T2, at least - did nothing to inform you that you're in a World Cup city.
The first stop (geez, how cliched is this going to sound) was for chole bhature. Not just any chole bhature - the chole bhature that was Virat Kohli's favourite meal growing up in West Delhi. The elderly man who heads things here says that while he's told Kohli was once a weekly visitor (every Sunday, after practice, I'm told), the shop owners themselves were only made aware of Kohli's affinity to the place through the much-viral interviews from recent years. And though Kohli himself hasn't returned much since he turned his diet around, the shop's stocks have gone through the roof in recent years. As for the chole bhature itself: it's good, but not the best I've had in Delhi. Sorry, Virat (and fans).
Full postThe lighter side of Pakistan's high-security training session
What happens when Matthew Hayden is forced to wait on the steps for 'his boys'
Shashank Kishore
09-Oct-2023
The armed ranger stationed outside the Pakistan dressing room at the Gymkhana grounds in downtown Hyderabad can't immediately recognise the burly gentleman making his way up to greet the team.
That burly gentleman is Matthew Hayden, no stranger to the Pakistan camp, having been batting consultant with them at two T20 World Cups. For the security personnel on duty, however, he's no VIP. He eventually sits outside the dressing-room steps and waits for "his boys" ahead of their training session.
"Hey, Ferrari, good to see you. All set, eh?" Hayden greets Haris Rauf as he sits down on the steps. "Ferrari, who is Ferrari? I don't have one," Rauf replies with a laugh. "It's a name I coined for you at the T20 World Cup. You're Ferrari, mate," Hayden says.
Full postA love letter to Feroz Shah Kotla
A ground where the past, the present and the future of Delhi come together
Sidharth Monga
09-Oct-2023
"Ask to be dropped at urinals," I always instruct people. Or make a left at the urinals if I am driving when parking is available during domestic matches. I don't think there is a cricket ground in the world other than the Feroz Shah Kotla that is identified by urinals. It has no gates on the main road because it is slightly off the Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg. The road is lined with trees so you often miss the floodlights, a usual identifier of cricket grounds, from the ground level, and the narrow left that takes you in.
So you go by the urinals. They are right there. Right in the middle of the pavement you use to enter through gates 1 to 6. Now that I don't live in Delhi, I come out through gate 5 of Delhi Gate metro station, turn left, go past the petrol pump, past the Ambedkar Stadium entry and some of the Kotla entry gates, past the chhole-kulche cart, and they are right there, the urinals to remind me where to take the left. The dusty small field where Delhi police set up its scanning tent is right behind the urinals. The opening to that field is easy to miss but not the stinky urinals.
Except they are not stinking this time. I am here to report that - probably because of this World Cup and the focus on fan-friendliness of Indian stadiums - those urinals have been covered and locked. In fact, the whole stadium is at its best behaviour. The Gautam Gambhir Stand, which looks like a multi-level car park, doesn't quite look as ugly as usual because the cladding doesn't carry chewing tobacco advertising but rather pleasant ICC signage. At least on day one, I am told, the toilets for women were clean and well stocked. Even Delhi police are rather polite.
Full postAshraful-watching and reconnecting on the way to Dharamsala
For the Bangladesh fans, exploring the scenic town can wait; Afghanistan need to be defeated first
Mohammad Isam
07-Oct-2023
"I know you from somewhere."
"Of course you do."
"Of course you do."
Bangladesh cricket fans in the check-in counters and waiting areas of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi are discovering lost connections. Families, groups of friends, fan associations… they are all waiting for their flights to Dharamsala, where Bangladesh are playing their first game of the World Cup, against Afghanistan, and filling up their time most productively.
It is a long way from home, especially for those based in the US or UK or Australia. The Delhi transit was a welcome bit of quiet, although slightly frustrating too, as some flights were delayed.
Full postGetting to Dharamsala before the luggage
The Himalayas are behind clouds at the moment, but they should appear at some stage, as should the suitcase
Matt Roller
06-Oct-2023
This is the view from the hotel room I have just checked in to, overlooking Dharamsala. From the balcony, I can see the HPCA Stadium, a ground I have seen countless times on TV back home and longed to visit. The man at reception lamented to me that the clouds are blocking the view of the Himalayas this afternoon. How will I cope?
The drive from Kangra Airport is beyond spectacular. My taxi driver took me up a single-lane bypass, hurtling through the forest, before rejoining the trail of hairpin bends which climb through the countryside and towards the town itself. The landscape is lush and verdant, and there is a constant hum from insects outside.
My room is modest but I have just about everything I need: bottled water, a kettle, wifi that seems largely functional, and even access to Pakistan vs Netherlands on my TV (albeit only the Hindi channel, which is putting my language skills to the test). There is just one catch: my luggage is still in Delhi, and won't arrive until tomorrow morning at the earliest.
Full postHyderabad, where's the buzz (gone)?
Insights from a taxi ride into town
Shashank Kishore
05-Oct-2023
On a cricket tour, cab drivers often offer an accurate barometer of sporting frenzy. The long drive from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport into Hyderabad's CBD is a great chance to discover what's hot.
All it takes my cab driver is a glance at my phone, while I give him the OTP, to figure I'm here for the Cricket World Cup in some capacity. My phone's home screen has been set to display various iconic cricket images every day and his hawk eyes have just seen Jonty's moment of airborne genius from 1992.
It's early in the morning and I'm a bit groggy. Yet, I try and look around the domestic arrival terminal for any sign that even remotely spells out "World Cup". I find nothing. Not even signage, let alone billboards. I ask the driver about this. He pointed to the bawaal (excitement arising from chaos) he witnessed last week when the airport sprang to life early morning with Pakistan's arrival.
Full postSpare a thought for climate change
The chartered flights to get all the captains together for the launch event was an extravagance we could probably have done without
Sidharth Monga
04-Oct-2023
Imagine the relief among the organisers of this World Cup at landing in Ahmedabad and seeing young bike riders using protection for their faces and not their heads. Hardly anyone wears helmets in Ahmedabad, but the handkerchief to cover the face are ubiquitous. That can mean only one thing: dust and dry heat. Dry heat. Just the word cricket organisers need to hear, although helmets would be welcome too.
The climate emergency we live in is real, and cricket is not immune. Last year, the T20 World Cup just about winged it past the extreme weather conditions that led to widespread flooding in Australia. This year's IPL final almost didn't happen because of torrential summer rain in Ahmedabad of all places.
Since the start of the Asia Cup in August, we have spent more time looking at weather websites than watching cricket. Four of the ten warm-up matches for this World Cup were washed out by unseasonal rain. The last thing a tournament in the news for the wrong reasons - late announcement of schedules, ticket sales fiascos, visa delays - needs is rain in the tournament proper, which is when we are told the quality of cricket will wipe away memories of all the organisational problems.
Full postHello, Mumbai!
Cricket might be numero uno in India, but in the financial capital, there's not a whole lot to tell you there's a World Cup on
Firdose Moonda
04-Oct-2023
If you're looking for a sign, this isn't it. In fact, there aren't many. Apart from the ones at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj airport, which boldly welcome travellers to "the greatest World Cup ever", if you were dropped into India's financial centre from outer space, you would not know the magnitude of what is about to begin.
Or you would, because the cool kids tell me that billboards don't matter anymore. We all spend more time looking down at our screens than up at our surroundings, but to me, presence matters. At the women's T20 World Cup in South Africa earlier this year, there was advertising at all three host venues, and in a country that is not as cricket-obsessed as this one, it served a purpose. That is obviously not the case here, where there's no doubt that cricket trumps all else as the pastime of choice.
Either way, if you're among those who have been tangled in the interwebs, you'll know that many (perhaps all) aspects of this World Cup have been affected by delays. Fixtures were announced later than any other World Cup - and then some of them were moved - tickets went on sale late, and foreign journalists' visas have been arriving late. You may guess from that that some of the preparations are running a little late too, and you won't be too far wrong.
Full post'Is there a Cricket World Cup soon?'
Our correspondent experiences the vastness of the Narendra Modi Stadium
Matt Roller
03-Oct-2023
London Gatwick Airport, Sunday night. One of the two men sitting next to me on the plane wonders how I've found myself on an overnight Air India flight to Ahmedabad. They're from Dresden in Germany, and are flying out for a conference on land reform.
I tell them I'm a sports journalist heading out to cover the Cricket World Cup. "A World Cup? In Ahmedabad? This week?" I explain that the opening game is this Thursday. They have heard of cricket, but tell me that they're not too familiar with it. They chat to one another in German, and five minutes later one of them hands me the Wikipedia page for the Narendra Modi Stadium, looking confused: "It says it's the second-biggest stadium in the world?"
Less than 24 hours later, I'm wandering around the stadium itself. I'm desperately trying to find the Gujarat Cricket Association's offices to pick up the accreditation pass that I will need to guard tightly over the next six or seven weeks, which will let me into the eight different venues that England play in across the country. The stadium is just as big as anticipated, though eerily quiet on a non-match day.
Full postMost Read
Writers