Tomorrow is day ten and the end of our time in India. We leave for home late on Monday evening, and I speak for most people when I say we will be glad to see the freezing cold again, as well as everything else that makes Ireland our comfort zone.

Since the last update, coping with the daily rigours of Pune has become increasingly difficult for all of us. Sleepless nights and illness have taken a heavy toll and without the focus of the cricket all day, life would surely be harder. Since Thursday, net time has been increased. Friday was a particularly tough session: the morning began with drills focusing on using our feet down the track.

Everyone has come to realise that this approach to playing spin provides more than an attacking option. Using your feet does not mean you must put the ball out of the park, nor must you score runs. It can be a defensive ploy, an option to upset the bowler and definitely one to negate spin. Equally important is placement and timing, rather than raw power or aggression. Relatively basic ideas you might think, but how many batsmen refuse to use their feet because of their poor history with the tactic?

After two days practice, there is a huge confidence amongst the lads that they will not be beaten after advancing down and I'm sure back in Ireland, it is a shot they will employ more often. In the afternoon, much of the attention turned to a much-neglected aspect of the game: the inner or mental game, the battle against your ego. A finish time for the session was not set and our net would not finish until we were out.

Reflecting on my week, I am sure that there were only one or two nets were I was not out in a clean-cut fashion i.e. bowled, stumped or LBW, so this was to prove interesting and most certainly a challenge. Unfortunately, the majority of the lads didn't last too long, no more than 10 minutes.

George Dockrell and I, however, survived an hour and must have faced closed to 250 deliveries each. I'm haven't a clue how many runs I might have scored, it wasn't really an issue; time was runs and it was definitely the highest point of my week, as well as being hugely enjoyable. Save some sympathy for Robin Russell here, who I think faced six balls!

He certainly made up for lost ground the next day in the first of our two games. We lined up against the Pune Club and their most promising youngsters, and posted 193 first in what was a poor batting display to tell the truth. Robin was the main positive, making a composed and patient 70 while all others fell to rash shots. Eddie Richardson added a spark at the end with an eleven ball 25, including four 4's and a six to go along with it. From here, the rest of the game is best left undocumented!

Before we fly back, we travel to Mumbai for the day to take on the local police force in what may prove to be an intriguing game. I'm sure they will be extremely strong. Half the party are still struggling somewhat with their internals, while the entire party are at the end of the line with regard to energy levels. It's been an extremely draining period, undoubtedly advantageous, and while we had a half day today there is only so many days on the go we can take.

We've certainly missed the build-up to Christmas anyway: the closest thing to a decoration I've seen is the five year old selling Christmas hats between cars when the traffic stops! So if I went to India and didn't learn anything, the trip would have been a waste of my time for sure.

At this point then, I suppose I should list one or two things I will take into my first game for DUCC next April. To start, I will be confident in my own ability to match the bowlers I've faced here, so I shall be confident to match the bowlers I face back home. Having spent the week squaring up to countless impersonators of Harbajahn Singh, I will put more faith in my ability to play spin. I can't guarantee that I'll be entirely successful in either of these ideas, but it's worked in India so hopefully I can make it work back home.

So that is it for what I've got to send from India. It's been an unforgettable experience for all the right and wrong reasons, but what I can guarantee is that all seven of us will return better cricketers. I must thank Brian O'Rourke for his organising the whole trip, none of it would have been possible without his efforts and input, because he really did plan every part of the week from A-Z. Thanks also to Nige for travelling with us, he provided a bit of humour and always had some advice to give come the end of the day. I think he learned as much as we did when all things are considered!

Eoghan Delany