A moment of genius: Kevin Pietersen's switch-hit © AFP

And so the tour comes to a close. Tomorrow is the last day and we'll have to miss some of that if we're to get back to Mumbai in time for our flights back to England. It seems amazing to think that just over two weeks ago we were at home with everyone asking whether we would still come on tour. We've packed so much in and yet at the same time the idea of a whole tour being completed in two weeks is silly. None of us are ready to go home yet and the cricket is getting more interesting by the day.

If watching Sachin in Chennai was an honour then watching KP yesterday was similar. His switch-hits are moments of genius and to be here to witness them was something truly special. Sadly not nearly as many people are watching the game in Mohali as there were in Chennai so the atmosphere isn't the same but we're trying hard to do what we can.

Security has relaxed a bit over the few days here. We now get a wave from the man on the machine gun on our gate and it's amazing how easy you can disarm (metaphorically) the huge number of soldiers here with a smile and a hello.

So a quick word of thanks to everyone in India who has made us so welcome. We didn't want to trek up to Mohali as it's made the whole trip a logistical nightmare, but at least when we got here people made it worthwhile. And thanks to those of you who have taken the time to read this and respond – in answer to a couple of questions that you posed this wasn't my first tour. I've done many but never seen anything quite like the crowd in Chennai. And to those of you from Pakistan, I think everything should be done to tour the country and if England go there again I'll be visiting just as I did last time. For now though I'm just happy this went ahead and we could all enjoy some great cricket.

Well, if we thought yesterday was intense then today was something that took it to a whole new level. We should, as England cricket fans, have been quite distraught at what we watched today. But there was an air of resignation and also huge respect for having seen one of the greatest talents ever play the game play an innings like that. And in the aftermath of events that had happened in Sachin's home city it somehow seemed apt (and to an extent inevitable) that he would pull it off.

And more pertinently it proved that this series should have gone ahead. What better way for a shell-shocked nation to get over recent events than to watch Test cricket and watch one of its greatest players produce something like that? And it was a shot in the arm for Test cricket because while we'd sat at home watching India play Australia in front of a handful of people, the stadium here was packed. The noise was amazing and it was quite fun for the few England fans to try singing in the middle of it. We could barely hear ourselves speak, never mind sing, but we persevered anyway.

We also achieved a relationship with the Indian fans that was heart-warming. If I shook one hand on the way out I must have shaken a hundred and they were full of conciliation to us for having watched our team lose. Coming on tour was always primarily about watching cricket, but having people appreciate our attendance in the wake of recent events makes it all the more worthwhile.
Hopefully we'll be the ones commiserating with them in Mohali though.

Wow. That was intense. I've been fortunate enough to have watched cricket all around the world but never in my life have I experienced anything like the bedlam in the ground today as Sehwag was smashing our bowling to all parts of the ground.

The barrage of noise was intense. The Barmy Army is renowned for being loud and some might say rowdy, but compared to the Indian fans we're fairly quiet. Never have so many plastic bottles been banged against so many seats and made so much of a racket.

It's a privilege to watch Test cricket overseas but this was something else. To witness such a great innings and to be party to the crowd's reaction is something that will live with us forever. And the nicest part of it all? When Swanny took Sehwag's wicket half the Indians in the crowd turned round and shook our hands. Much appreciated and our relationship with the Indian fans is a real highlight of this tour.

	Welcome to India © Getty Images

Everyone knows how crazy the Indian fans are. Everyone knows how much noise they make. But only when you're in the middle of it can you truly understand it. They applaud every run like it's a century and make noise for no apparent reason. Now we're perfectly capable of that in the Barmy Army as well, but these guys take it to extremes. And this is when their stadium is less than half full and their team is struggling.

The huge security was very little yesterday and even less today, which meant there was an even bigger opportunity to concentrate on the cricket and for an England fan that was a good thing today. We figured it was going to be tough against this batting line up but our bowlers came to the party and the few fans we have bought over here made themselves heard in a big way to help the boys along.

India is an interesting and at times frustrating place to tour as nothing quite works as it does at home. But with friendly people and a team on top, none of it seems to matter. There was a certain antipathy to Harbajhan and Yuvraj today, the former for his inflammatory words in a press conference yesterday and the latter for falling out with Flintoff. It was good to be on top, but there's a long way to go.

As we approached the stadium in Chennai on the morning of the first Test there was almost a sense of anticlimax. With the way people had been talking we had half been expecting a battalion at every corner, but outside the ground there was nothing unusual about any police or army presence. Could this really be the Test which had been under such threat?

Getting in the ground itself was something of an issue although we'd actually got past the bit where you buy tickets and show them to get in the grounds by this time. Then came the searches and the moment I knew was coming as they attempted to take my camera. I politely refused and sweet-talked someone into allowing me in although the original security guard was not impressed.

Apart from that, our presence here has been warmly received. One kid had gone to the effort of creating a banner to thank us and on the main scoreboard there were messages texted in appreciation of our attendance. In our hotel there was much excitement about the fact we had come over.

But now the cricket has started it is immediately obvious why this tour should have gone ahead. Instead of discussing recent events, today became about Paul Collingwood's rather questionable decision; about the performance of Andrew Strauss and everything cricket. In a world where life must move on, cricket helped it today.

It seems hard to believe after all the hype at home, the will-they, won't-they pontificating and the repeated inquiries into whether I was going to be here or not, I'm in Chennai looking forward to a day of Test cricket tomorrow. I'm sat with a dozen fellow fans in our hotel bar discussing this Test, this series and many others that have already gone by.

Security at the ground is heavy to say the least. The chances of getting anywhere near the training today was about as realistic as Jimmy Anderson scoring a Test century. But with a focus on tomorrow, we've found an area of the ground to congregate in.

The biggest discussion as I write surrounds what we'll be able to take into the ground. It seems like nearly everything will be confiscated, including cameras and mobile phones. That's not particularly handy if you want to take photos for the Barmy Army website or need your phone to chat to the media. I applied for media accreditation for this tour on behalf of the Barmy Army but we got refused because apparently websites don't count as media. That seems particularly ironic as I've now got my ramblings on Cricinfo as well.

But while that remains a worry there is a buzz about our small group. We're going to watch Test cricket tomorrow. In India. Despite everything that has happened. Despite concerns from home. And the locals seem very happy to have us here, which is always appreciated.

And if you think that cricket is the biggest deal going on here I can only point out that I've just looked up at the television to see the headline ‘War on Pak?’ The situation is much bigger than cricket when you get to the country concerned, and rightly so, but for those of us who have made the pilgrimage tomorrow will be about the sport. And if that takes everyone's mind off the atrocities then it can only be a good thing.

My first post outlined my misgivings about Ahmedabad as a Test destination. If someone had intimated moving the Test to Chennai I'd have been hugely enthusiastic. My wish came true. And I feel fairly rotten about it because the circumstances surrounding the change are not what anyone would have wished for.

Writing about cricket still seems strange. Sambit Bal's excellent column on this site summed up more eloquently and empathetically than I ever could the strange situation we were all put in. Various media outlets were in touch with me in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks asking whether the Barmy Army would still be going and what advice we would be giving. I understand full well the demands of rolling news, but it felt wrong to be talking about whether we would still tour as people were still being held in hotels in Mumbai.

I'm not sure at what point the balance tipped from this being a story about terrorism with a cricketing link to a story purely about cricket, but I reckon within three days that had happened. That in itself is a shame as the issue of sport soon eclipsed the pain and suffering of those involved. As it became the primary focus, attention turned again to whether we would still be going.

I'm in the process of rearranging everything to follow the series as planned. The inconvenience of that is tiny compared to the suffering of the people of Mumbai so it would be churlish to complain. There are the practical reasons to go ahead with the tour, such as booked flights and holidays, but there's also been an overwhelming feeling that we should support the team, support the people of India and show the terrorists we won't be put off.

All of which means I'm now being asked two different questions. Am I at all concerned and do I think enough has been done to take into consideration the safety of the fans? The only person I've heard mention the fans' safety was the legend that is Michael Vaughan. Has anyone else given us a second thought? Well if they have I've yet to see evidence of it. We don't want our own squad of commandos, but some reassurance they've actually given some thought to our safety would be nice.