As the Gujarat Lions cruised to an easy win over the Kolkata Knight Riders, Tim Cook stood on the edge of the pitch expressing his newfound love for Indian cricket. “I’m totally hooked?.?.?.?it’s so exciting here,” Apple's chief executive said, midway through his first visit to the country this month.

Mr Cook’s cricket outing may have been in part a publicity stunt, but he has good reason to seek a better understanding of Indian culture. The country has become a conspicuous source of growth for Apple, which said iPhone sales there increased by 56 per cent in the first quarter of this year, even as they fell globally for the first time.

In fact, world smartphone sales as a whole suffered their first fall in the same period, according to research by Canalys, but India’s market again stood out, notching up an overall 12 per cent increase as millions of people made the switch from basic feature phones.