Special Tea Day...

Time to buy some more clothes

    Aaron Finch is an empathetic and gentle man, a peace-maker who brought his team together in a significantly different, less jingoistic way than most of his predecessors. Not prone to making big statements, he couldn’t help muttering something about “…the greatest one-day innings ever?”

    It was certainly something to pass the evening watching Glenn Maxwell score an unbeaten 201 to shift Australia from 91-7 to 291-7 and victory against Afghanistan which officially secured a semi-final place against South Africa in Kolkata. (Unless Pakistan somehow qualify in fourth place in which case the old rivals will meet in Mumbai.)

    It was a ‘watch-and-see’ day for most of the journalists in India as they gathered their thoughts around qualification scenarios, both for the semi-finals and for the 2025 Champions Trophy. Some teams played golf and others video games as the dust settled on the TimeOutGate incident in the Bangladesh/Sri Lanka match and the Indian players’ surprising but understandably bullish reaction to their stuffing of South Africa.

    It was a morning I’ll never forget, and not just because the hotel ‘manager’, who slept overnight on a blanket in the corridor-sized reception area, offered me a peace-brokering breakfast of freshly fried chepaties with tomato sauce, or because I was checking out. I ate the meal, and enjoyed it, without guilt.

    Over 30 years ago a seasoned hack told me: “You’ll never get rich doing this, kid, but you’ll meet some amazing people and make a lot of friends, if you’re any good at it.”

    A regular reader for many of those years, whom I’ve never met, has been enjoying my accounts of working in ‘authentic’ India. Yesterday, however, he drew a temporary line under the venture with an email confirming my check-in time to the Four Points Sheraton, for which he had paid. It has taken much of the day to digest this event, happily spent in a tremendously comfortable hotel room.

    I worried, briefly, that I had failed in my mission to complete a budget World Cup campaign, but it was very brief. I may be naieve, but I’m not stupid. We have agreed to meet next year so I can express my thanks in person, perhaps with the glass of wine which is verboten in Gujarat. The one I could really have done with last night. I’m still coming to terms with his generosity.  

    Just look at the Ahmedabad Metro! It’s hard to imagine the project ever being completed in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, but here in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hometown, anything is possible. Can’t wait to see, and share the experience, of his namesake Stadium tomorrow. Provided I can buy some clothes to wear on his Metro to get there.

    “Your luggage failed to connect today…sir.” Most of the day was spent looking forward to collecting my bag. “The bag will be on the plane, sir,” the lady at SpiceJet told me shortly before I started the trip back to the airport. When I arrived, she delivered the first line, in the manner of ‘you have something between your teeth, sir.’ Like she was doing me a favour.

    Tomorrow I will finally bite those teeth, find a cheap market and buy some clothes. I was advised not to use SpiceJet before the tour, but it was the only direct flight from Kolkata. I asked her about compensation for two days and nights without my toothbrush and underwear etc. Her left eyebrow raised, just a little, but she did not reply.

(Usual scene of Mom, Dad and teenager of her phone…)

    My distressed state was greatly mitigated by returning to the new abode, but still noticeable to a kind local gentleman who made polite ‘cricket talk’ before offering to take me to a tea-bar. Given the prohibitive status of Gujarat, and Ahmedabad, there are tea and coffee bars everywhere. Couldn’t help wondering why he was ordering a taxi. The drive, and the excellent tea at the end of it, were very well worth it.

Finally, what do you fancy for lunch tomorrow? This is a great hotel but the room-service menu is a bit pricey and their is a popular sandwich joint two blocks away.