Delhi Daredevils take the train to work

On Friday, Delhi goes into round two of its odd-even experiment: to ease some of the vehicular pollution in India's capital, the state government had in December come up with a plan under which only odd-registration-numbered vehicles could be used on odd dates, and even on even dates. The idea was to encourage car-pooling and use of public transport. While the system was praised by many, quite a few felt significantly inconvenienced at being asked to use public transport.

For those rich folk who complained, there might be inspiration: some of the highest-earning people in the city are taking the metro to work. Delhi Daredevils - Zaheer Khan, Rahul Dravid, JP Duminy and all - finish a major part of their journey from the team hotel to Feroz Shah Kotla on the train.

The team stays in a hotel near the international airport, which is on the outskirts of the city, but they have to travel to the heart of Delhi, where New Delhi meets Purani Dilli (old Delhi). The commute takes more than an hour by bus, so two years ago someone came up with the idea to board a train at Aerocity station and alight at Shivaji Stadium - this leg of the journey takes them 15 minutes. A team bus awaits there, and gets them to the Kotla in another 15-20 minutes. Of course, it helps that Daredevils' owner, the GMR group, has close links with the train service to and from the Delhi airport and can easily manage to get the team a dedicated compartment.

On Friday the Daredevils went a step further. Until this year they had been using the metro only on training days, but on Friday they took the train to play Kings XI Punjab. Even if it started as a matter of convenience, there is a message in there somewhere for some of the Delhi people perhaps.