When the going gets tough, Barmy Army gets going

Mumbai: “Your first time in India?” asks Devesh, the cabbie who picked me up outside Mumbai airport and in whose taxi I now sit as we thunder towards the city.

It isn’t, but even on my first visit to this unique country I wasn’t fool enough to admit it. Fresh meat can mean fresh pickings and I’ve no wish to go through the usual sales patter during my first minutes back on the sub-continent.

Luckily I’ve got a trump card; a topic guaranteed to stop all other enquiries and lead to a meeting of the minds — cricket.

England might be home of the game but India is where it’s worshipped. Like Brazilians with football, they’ve taken an English idea and transformed it into something almost spiritual.

Devesh certainly thinks so. He’s enthusiastically telling me how he loves England but how they haven’t got a chance in Mumbai. He’s an expert and I fear he might be right. Forty minutes — and the history of Indian cricket — later, we pull up outside my hotel in Coloba and I bid a fond farewell to my new friend with promises to phone him if I need anything.

I certainly won’t lack for countrymen. It might not be the official Barmy Army hotel, but I’ve already seen enough signs that a few of England’s most famous travelling supporters have set up home here.

Later in the restaurant, I seek some of them out and ask them how they’ve been enjoying Indian hospitality. Most of them are old hands on the touring circuit but all admit they’ve never experienced anything quite like India.

It’s a common statement among westerners, and not confined to cricket fans, but I’m glad they’ve taken well to the general craziness and seem determined to enjoy themselves.

One of the recurring themes of their conversation is that this tour marks a return of the die-hard Barmy Army fans. England’s elevation to the number one Test side and the promise of a tropical paradise had seen the Army’s ranks swell during the recent Sri Lanka series, and not to everyone’s liking.

The feeling was a lot of football fans had jumped on the bandwagon and had brought some of their more unsavoury elements along with them. Thankfully, that doesn’t seem to be the case here.

Whether it’s England sudden fall from grace or the fact that India is typically seen as a tough destination to travel to, word on the Barmy Army grapevine is the die-hard fans are back and all for the better.

After all, this was an institution that was forged by adversity and not by success. Looking at how things have gone so far, we might do well to remember that.