Dharamsala Diary Day 3

It’s about half an hour walk to the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium from where I am staying with some of the common sights and sounds of walking around India with the less common backdrop of the Dhauladhar range.

I ate breakfast at the apartment (for the first time this trip) and left about 08:00 to arrive as the ground opens. After figuring out which gate to go in and being x-rayed and all that, I found a good seat. I got chatting to a guy from York probably called Paul and he was good company for the day.

There is no getting around it — this is just an excellent place to watch cricket. There are some horror stories about Indian cricket grounds being uncomfortable with punitive rules, bad food and drink and lacking decent toilet facilities, so I was relieved to find everything in the HPCA stadium was really good. The food was cheap and decent enough and brought to your seat, there is a lot of police and some army in attendance but they are all pretty cheerful. The toilet facilities are new and excellent by any standard. It was a really comfortable day. People I had spoke to who had attended all five tests were very effusive on the subject of Dharamsala.

England had a pretty bad day of it, but to say that does detract a little from just how good India are. The surroundings, the fun of being in an Indian crowd when the home team are going well, and watching some of the best cricketers in the world at the top of their game makes for a compelling day.

Back to the apartment for sunsets, food and watching high/lowlights.