Mumbai meltdown

Last copy from The Australian's correspondent in Mumbai:

"Twenty20 is perfectly suited to India's young men who smash the ball with incredible ferocity and can sustain such efforts for the short period needed, although they do find themselves exposed over longer forms of the game.

"Australia fielded badly and conceded 24 extras - and that didn't include the two fives the fieldsmen gave Gambhir in run-out attempts that resulted in overthrows.

"The visitors looked tired and eager to get home and drove the route to the airport a few hours after the game. The Indians drove the reverse route four weeks back in front of a million or so people.

"It was an amazing scene then and one that steeled a couple of the Australian players to take them down a peg or two.

"Those celebrations were reprised to a lesser extent when the Indian players clambered aboard Gambhir's new car and did a lap of honour of Brabourne stadium.

"If you looked up in the stands as they did you could almost see the ghost of English captains past, wondering what on earth these colonials had done to the game."

The right stadium to choose

There is a hotel in Mumbai which houses one of the best views of the bustling, chaotic city. The Ambassador is situated just off Marine Drive and overlooks the CCI Brabourne stadium (below), host to the Champions Trophy Final.

I stayed there in March on England's tour and didn't actually recognise it from the outside (right) - perhaps just saying "oil refinery, please" to a taxi driver would have sufficed - but it still retains its 70s charm and character inside.

On top of the hotel's 'refinery' sits the 360° Pearl of the Orient restaurant; look up the coast to the imposing, politically-built Wankhede Stadium, while just below on the other side is the CCI. If I was ticketless for the Final, eating a Chinese in the restaurant would be the next best thing, although if you are a CCI member, it is possible to watch from your bed inside the ground.

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Speaking of oil, Christopher Martin-Jenkins has had his spills in India too. 30-odd years ago, a spritely CMJ jumped into a taxi and ordered: "All India Radio." A couple of hours later he found himself by a refinery in the middle of nowhere. "Oil India, sir," replied the driver.