Bengaluru, India

I'm writing this sitting in a a near empty Chinnaswamy Stadium, over an hour before play, to ensure we get our seats for the day. It appears as though you can roughly estimate the crowd size for the day using this formula: somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 full on weekdays, multiply that by 2 for a weekend, and multiply that by 2 again for India batting. With the hosts being 8 down I suspect we won't be getting a full ground today.

On Thursday and Friday we were in the front few rows of the grandstand. Saturday and Sunday, however, the gates have been opened earlier nthe advertised starting time of 8am (only in India!) and these seats have been snaffled by the "Indus Army". I think we won't see these people again on the fifth day (Monday) however. They'll have to resume their jobs in security, police or auto rickshaw driver, which seems to apply to 95% of the population.

The Indus Army became a little hostile towards our group late in the game on Saturday - including giving us a few reminders that "this is not Sydney" (referring to the supposed Aussie cheating at the test match there earlier in the year) and a number of chants that the Aussie cricket team were "going down:. By themselves these probably sound like they are about as vicious as a labrador pup but the chants were well and truly directed towards us. I think we've taken it pretty well but I'm sure we're looking forward to giving a little bit back, perhaps in a more humble manner, if the boys come away with a win.

Other than that I've loved every minute of sitting in the Indian crowd. They really do cheer everything - including many dot balls. They're also certainly very one-eyed, fuelled by a remarkably biased media which deliberately stirs their feelings of being on harshly treated in many situations involving opposition teams or umpires. Now there's probably a few people who know my impartiality towards umpires/referees - I believe they have minimal influence over the outcome of games - so I think I'm better placed than many others to say that the local's views that the rest of the world being against their team are misguided.

The locals certainly get involved in the game to an admirable level, which I think shows up the fashionably passive crowds in the clean but passive Down Under stadiums. There's no drinking at the cricket either.

I'm finding that a number of people in our group are quite negative about the Indian population and their many idiosyncracies, but I must say I absolutely love the people and appreciate that it's the mix of these qualities that make them great. Overall, they are friendly and relaxed. They love seeing Aussies anywhere and are fascinated by our basics such as names and home cities. I've had plenty of photos taken with me, as have many of the others in our group.

On Wednesday we were at the ground watching our boys go through their last day preparations when a confident young Bengaluruan aprroached us for a game of cricket versus some local kids out in the suburbs, an offer we were only too happy to accept. Immediately upon our arrival at the "ground", a large gravelled area devoid of any grass but abundant with rocks, stones and cricket games, we were given Aussie player nicknames - I was (and still am) Shane Watson, while the other boys were allocated Ricky Ponting (Nick), David Boon (Mike) and Adam Gilchrist (Matt). Without going into too much detail, the outcome of the game was a reminder for myself that I'm better off wielding a Best Bets rather than the willow during the summer. A scratchy ten or so (ended by a leg side stumping), which folllowed three overs of batsman-friendly deliveries, failed to provide me with any reason to pull on the whites or creams in the near future, unless for lawn bowls.

Nick, Matt and Mike have been 3 of the group of blokes I've spent more time with than others, along with their mate Lyon from Brisbane and Matt from Bundoora. The first three boys are all from Bunbury, so there's been a fair bit of footy banter and sledging thrown about. As a Cats man I've really got the best hand - Nick (Port), Mike (WCE), Lyon (Blues), Matt (Freo) and Matt (WB) can't compete with the all-conquering line "and just remind me when your last flag was?". But it does appear that there are Hawthorn supporters just pouring out of the woodwork over here too.

I've got the Cats jumper on again after giving it its debut on the second day of the test. I haven't really heard whether it's got a run on the Fox Sports coverage yet but you certainly can't miss a man with milky white skin in a largely white jumper. I have managed to (probably) get myself on Neo Cricket, the national broadcaster here. There's a show on the channel called Tour Diary hosted by a young celeb called Archana, who provides daily 'colour' reports on Indian cricket. Archana came around to our area before play on the first day and first person she chose to sit down and speak to was me. The interview lasted 5 minutes but a lot of the questions seemed to be the same - i.e. how have your experiences in India been? Two others were interviewed, Pete and the tour operator Luke. The interview was to be shown this morning however I've left the hotel early to ensure I get a seat at the game.

It's now 15 minutes to go before the first ball and I'm gettting the feeling that I could've stayed at the hotel to check out the interview. The crowd isn't exactly flooding in as a write. Disappointing.

The food at the ground has been a highlight of the tour to date. Just down the stairs and out the back is a smorgasboard of food stores, the best of which sells a fresh bread with a curry or casserole, which varies every day, and sometimes a dipping sauce for 20 rupees (around 60 cents AU). Without doubt I'll be seeing them during the lunch break today.

Actually, overall the food has been simply awesome, certainly different from what one would find at a typical Indian restaurant in Australia. And cheap - 2000 rupees (65 AUD) withdrawn on Tuesday was to last me the next four days, including zero AFDs (Alcohol Free Days).

Time to go. The players are just coming onto the field now and the still smallish crowd is going nuts. My feeling is that television understates the volume of the roar of the Indian crowd. And it possibly overstates the volume of the silence when Sachin gets out (note to the local crowd - when the great man gets out for a well made 49, remember to give him a clap or two!!). Let's hope there's plenty of silence today.