It’s a burning day in Delhi, not one for a pasty Brit to be stuck outside for too long. So when the security guard refused my entry, stranding me in the street yards from any shelter, I feared the worst.

The Champions League is a global-domestic tournament – a vast, commercial, colourful enterprise. And the security around the grounds reflects this. Sussex players are not bothering to leave the hotel because it’s too much of a pain getting through all the checks. Try turning up to a game in Delhi without a ticket and you’ll get beaten by policemen with big sticks.

Once I persuaded the guard not to hit me, I was stuck. He wouldn’t let me to the press box without my pass, I couldn’t get my pass without getting to the press box. Looking around at similarly frustrated laptop carriers, I wasn’t alone. The local press officer finally sorted it out after much shouting and head shaking.

After getting frisked by two more guards, simultaneously, the cricket started to empty stands (this is the first foreign match – there’s a big one later when the Delhi Daredevils take on Victoria) but this didn’t stop the cheerleaders energetically encouraging no one to be mad for it.

Much of this is just mad.

Edward Craig is deputy editor of The Wisden Cricketer