Tour manager Gary Millis has been on the road in India. Here’s his latest letter home…
And so another Indian adventure is over.
Eleven of us left Heathrow just under three weeks ago, heading for Kolkata.
We set up camp at the Lalit Great Eastern. The Lalit is a hotel laden with history: the Queen, Rudyard Kipling and Mahatma Gandhi all stayed there in the golden years.
On the menu were four T20Is – in Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and Mumbai – and an ODI in Nagpur.
Travelling by air and a train journey to Mumbai, we split the time between T20s for a trip to Delhi and Agra to visit the Taj Mahal, ironically missing England’s only win on the tour.
The cricket grounds were similar: full of colour and characters. Each venue was full, as you would expect with white-ball cricket in India.
The cameras appeared to follow us from city to city and stadium to stadium, and we regularly turned up on TV transmissions beamed around the world. I received messages from Durban, Bali and Bermuda, reacting to the sight of our distinctive blue polos and turbans, which seemed to attract the locals who wanted endless photos.
The sights between the matches were, naturally, magnificent. We visited a lot of historic buildings and the majestic Temple in Chennai blew us away with its sheer beauty. But the Taj Mahal was the crown of the trip.
I have visited on four occasions now, and the majesty of its architecture has been just as striking each time. It demands to be stared at it. Somehow, the Taj seems to look different from all angles, and shows off a different side of itself depending on the time of day. The one recurring theme: from sunrise to sunset it is majestic.
The streets in Delhi were rich in colour, especially the spice market, and soundtracked by the relentless sounds of bikes and tuktuks.
We had the privilege of the a guided rickshaw tour from local kids.
Delhi is very busy, and most roads appear to lead to India Gate, a memorial which evokes the Arc de Triomphe.
India is an enduring, engaging, fascinating destination – and that is just as true of its cuisine as it is of its culture.
Walking around the narrow streets, there will always be the opportunity to try delicious Indian street food. The flavours are brilliant, but there’s always the nagging thought at the back of your mind that just one dish could cost more than just a few rupees.
In all it’s been an amazing tour. The group was great, and I know I will see most if not all of our tourists again on the cricket circuit. Hopefully, next time there’ll be a better outcome on the field.
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