A giant stuck in its own world

Ticket chaos across the Indian stadiums reflects a nation still coming to terms with the transition from old to new

The Sunday Times

As Bangladesh overcame Ireland in Dhaka, the television camera panned round a packed stadium. An Indian watching the match in Kolkata turned to me and said: "It is shameful. Bangladesh, a poor country, can organise a cricket match so well but we cannot even get our stadium ready."

The pained reference was to the fact that today's England v India clash had to be moved to Bengaluru because Kolkata's Eden Gardens was not ready. This highlights the battle between the new India, which wants to be at the world's top table, and the old India, happy to remain in its own world.