Riding the Delhi Metro to England's practice session

Overcrowding like you've never seen, with hundreds of sweaty, stressed travellers jammed into a single carriage. Noise so loud that you can hardly hear yourself think, let alone listen to music or a podcast through your headphones. Sweltering heat, with temperatures higher than those the European Union stipulates as the maximum for transporting cattle.

Those are among the abiding memories of my year using the hellish Central Line on London's Underground. So why, people of Delhi, does nobody seem to bother using your quick, quiet, clean, air-conditioned and cheap metro system?

This is my first time in the city, and I can see Moolchand station out of the window of my hotel room. After defaulting to an Uber on my first visit to the Arun Jaitley Stadium for India vs Afghanistan, I caught the Purple Line to Delhi Gate last night, en route to England's training session, and wished I had used it on every journey I had taken this week.

My main emotion was confusion: why was this train so quiet, with enough room for everyone to sit down as the afternoon rush hour approached? It felt particularly baffling that in a city where the air quality is notorious - according to my phone, it is "very poor" at the time of writing - so few people would choose a much more efficient, greener method of transportation.

Maybe I just got lucky. Apparently, nearly seven million people used the Delhi Metro in a single day in August; maybe, next time I use it, I will feel like I have been transported back home to London. But this journey? It was 40 rupees well spent.