In April this year, I was fortunate to go on a cricket tour to India. I was picked to play in the KiwiCaps youth cricket team, coached by former Blackcap Jacob Oram.

The team was made up of 14 players picked from around the country. We had players from Whangarei, Bay of Plenty, Whanganui, Palmerston North, Levin, Nelson, and Christchurch. There was a brief selection period where players submitted a cricket “resume,” in which they stated who they play for and what their highest level of cricket has been.

Our trip began by meeting at Auckland International Airport, where we departed on the 13th of April. We had a night flight to Kaula Lumpa, Malaysia where we had a layover for the day and got to experience sight seeing while there too. I even held a snake! We then had our second night flight to make our way to our destination, New Delhi, India.

Upon our arrival in India, we began our 2 week tour. We played 8 matches and had several rest days where we went sightseeing and experienced India. This included the Taj Mahal, an Indian Premier League cricket match, multiple markets, and even a fancy mall.

During our stay, we were based at the Suryaa Hotel in New Dehli for the 2 weeks. It served as our home away from home whilst in the hustle bustle of New Delhi.

On the afternoon of day one, we had a training session at a nearby stadium. For most of us it was our first time to India, and experiencing the major differences of the conditions compared to home. We did have one family who came back on tour from the trip that was held last year, and it was great to have their insights into most things India had to offer, including the unpredictability of how the pitches played out.

This year Jacob and our tour manager organised different teams and clubs from previous tours. We played against some school teams and some Academy teams. Over in India everyone seems to love cricket and take cricket very seriously. Unlike New Zealand’s population, India has millions of young men and women, competing nearly all year round to represent their country in years to come. So most serious cricket players are practicing and playing 5 or 6 days a week. They generally don’t stop to play a winter sport in between seasons either.

Our first game was against Modern School Delhi, it was a private school that has over 100 years of history. We were very much so outclassed and in awe as our opposition were extremely good, especially one 15 year old who had scored over 15,000 runs in 3 years! For comparison, New Zealand’s own Kane Williamson has scored 18,100 runs and counting in his entire career! We lost very convincingly. 

 Game two was a game that started with a red carpet entrance and traditional welcome. We were hosted by Delhi Public School, and shared lunch with the team in their school’s canteen. We had learnt a bit from the day before and had managed to put up a much better fight, but didn’t come out on top.

During our trip we had two days of playing two T20 matches. An afternoon game and a night game under lights. We played against Kush Cricket Club Academy in the first double header and then Golden Hawkes Academy for the second double header. Our team was happy to take wins in both the night games we played. Playing under lights was a new experience for us all, it is different trying to track the ball under lights than it is during the day under the sun. The lights can be quite blinding.

To finish off our tour in India, we had two 40 over matches. In New Zealand, we play the full 50 overs, however, due to the heat in India they only play 40 overs to avoid getting heat stroke and other heat related sickness. We played against Madanlal Academy Boys XI for both these games. We won the first match but Madanlal took the second match.

In between all the cricket we played we had some sightseeing tours. Our first tour was a bus trip to the Taj Mahal. We knew that this was one of the seven wonders of the world and to see it in person and hear the history of the building was really interesting. The building took 21 years to complete and is symmetrical from every side. The Taj Mahal was commissioned in 1631!

We visited some mosques and places of worship in both New Delhi and Old Delhi. (Yes there is a difference!) While in Old Delhi we also had a rickshaw ride, (a bike towing seats on the back.) We got to go through India’s busiest original Spice Market that even television shows like Masterchef get spices from. The smells at the spice market were amazing until we walked past the hot spices and everyone’s sinus got cleared very quickly, you certainly knew those spices would be too hot for us.

This experience was an amazing one for all the boys and to share it with a good group of people really made the trip once in a lifetime. Our team gelled quickly and we put in every effort during our games and made the most of our trip. We came away with three wins under our belt and a fourth game that came down to the final over. Experiencing Indian culture and seeing the sights is something we will never forget and something words can’t quite explain. 

The tour itself was self-funded, which meant we had to try and raise our own funds to get there. I am really thankful for all the help I was given to achieve this and get on a trip that will forever be a cricketing memory of mine.

I was fortunate that my cricket club helped run a quiz night for me and my Mum and I approached places for donations towards raffle prizes. My grandparents got behind me and helped with some funding and raised money through their friends. Plus my dad was able to apply for some funding through the Burnham UPF. This was amazing to have the extra support and made the difference to my trip.

I had really enjoyed being able to play cricket against players from another country who love the game of cricket as much as we do. I enjoyed how we were able to connect with them through cricket even though at times, there was a language barrier. It was an awesome, once in a lifetime experience that, if I were to be presented with the same opportunity again, I would definitely take it.

Thomas Inder