The morning starts colourfully enough. I take a tuk-tuk [auto-rickshaw] to the Indian team hotel and the driver, Lal Perera, is as garrulous as any Mumbai cabbie. Lal has a particular fondness for the definite article, and once he's aware that I'm a journalist from India, he tells me, "I like the Tendulkar and the Ganguly. Good that they coming." He intends to go to every game, and when I ask him about the effect of that on business, he turns around and gives me a sheepish, gap-toothed smile. What of his own countrymen, though? Who does he like? "Roy Dias," he says in a flash, betraying his age. "I also like the Sanath," he adds. "Sanath house just five minute from my house."

His dream vehicle looks like the work of a spaced-out designer. Pictures of two bonnie babies adorn the back seat, and up front, on the tuk-tuk's equivalent of a dashboard, lies what appears to be a piece of blue shagpile carpet. Various trinkets hanging from the mirror complete the picture. Andy Warhol it ain't, but as far as Colombo tuk-tuk design goes, this one's on the cutting edge.

I find him waiting outside the hotel again when I go for the Australian press conference later in the afternoon. But while he's a lovely bloke, his disconcerting habit of turning round 180 degrees to talk to you – the road and traffic on Galle Face be damned - means that he's unlikely to have regular customers.

The Aussie version of Meet the Press is almost as entertaining as Lal. I suppose it helps when you're winning everything in sight. Mind you, as Adam Gilchrist informs you solemnly, "This is one trophy we haven't won, having been knocked out by India twice." He smiles before adding: "Would be nice to run into them again at some stage here. If nothing else, it would mean we had got out of the group stages."

There's no question of New Zealand being taken lightly. Shane Warne goes so far as to tag Stephen Fleming "one of the best captains in the world, with a plan for each individual in the opposition". Warnie also answers questions about his weight cheerfully, telling you that he's dropped two stone. It shows too.

Glenn McGrath announces that he gets pissed at himself when he bowls as badly as he did in the final overs in Nairobi. "Nothing you can do if the batsmen hits the best you've got for four or six, but you can't take it when you're bowling a load of rubbish." Jimmy Maher is sat next to him and he tells you that he doesn't mind being seen as a jack-of-all-trades batsman. "Better that than being outside the first 16. There are a lot of great players out there who don't have that luxury." Maher also dons mock journalist garb and goes up to Warne, with the question, "Mr Warne, what's your opinion on Queensland's domination of the Pura Cup?" only to be shooed away amid peals of laughter.

Damien Martyn and Michael Bevan are reserved by comparison, though Martyn talks to me at length about the two different phases in his career. Jason Gillespie spends most of his time discussing Aussie Rules football with the journos from Down Under, while Brett Lee starts with, "It's awesome, mate," each time you ask him anything about Messrs Gillespie and McGrath.

Most of the South Africans are a bit tame in comparison, though Herschelle Gibbs does reveal that he might have been a footballer with Manchester United – like his good pal, Quinton Fortune – if he hadn't chosen cricket. As for Jonty Rhodes, he still attracts journalists like a magnet. Would it be disappointing to end his career without a World Cup trophy, someone asks him? His answer is revealing. "I grew up in the apartheid era, when we never got the chance to play international cricket. Guys like Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards and Clive Rice never got to play a World Cup. For me, the one in March will be my fourth if I make it. That's four more than I ever expected to play, to be honest." Would he have liked to play alongside the likes of Pollock (G)? "Not sure about that. I don't think he would have liked the quick singles. He might have tried to kneecap me as I ran past him."

Allan Donald has stitches and some plaster on his chin, a legacy of wicked bounce during practice. When he talks about his memories of that World Cup semi-final in 1999, you can see the sadness on his face. As the Don Williams classic tells you, Some Broken Hearts Never Mend.

Jacques Kallis speaks at length about the setbacks against Australia and admits that at the moment "there is a gulf between them and the rest". He's also against technology playing too big a role in cricket. "At this rate, you might as well have a robot," he tells you, before adding with a smile, "and this way, the players have something to whine about after the game." Makhaya Ntini wanders in after almost everyone else has left and proceeds to take the mickey out of anyone he can find. "Are you top-class?" he asks me, and when I answer in the affirmative, he laughs and says, "That's two of us."

And then it's back to back to the real world and Lal's Technicolor raincoat disguised as a tuk-tuk …

Dileep Premachandran is assistant editor of Wisden.com in India.

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