Sydney showstoppers: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma play to the gallery as iconic SCG turns a sea of blue

Before the final match of the India-Australia ODI series began at the hallowed ground, Kohli came out onto the field for a warm up amid the loudest cheers. As he touched the ground and then touched his forehead thrice, the thousands of Indian fans who had already gathered in the stands in anticipation went euphoric.

It may not have mattered what he scored on Saturday or even whether he scored or not, considering he couldn’t open his account in the last two matches of the series, which India has lost to Australia anyway. But at SCG, which has a capacity to seat 43,000 and no tickets left, the smiles and cheers don’t tell the story of loss, but of undying love for cricket, and for the cricketers.

The lightrail that arrives at Moore Park station, closest to the SCG, was full of men, women and children in blue, many sporting the No. 18 Virat jersey. Inside the lightrail too, anticipation is to see Kohli bat and see India win today. Avinash Patel, a civil engineer from Rajkot, who is travelling to watch the match with a dozen colleagues, says: “India will win today. No matter they lost the series, they have to win today. Also, we don’t consider the loss of first match as a loss, it was spoiled by the rain.”

As Kohli touched the ground and touched his forehead thrice, the thousands of Indian fans who have already gathered on the stands in anticipation went euphoric. (Express Photo by Divya A)

And what if Kohli couldn’t bat well today? “He has done a lot for the game, one or two matches don’t decide anything. It’s a delight to see him come out on the ground with passion,” chips in his friend.

Outside the stadium, the loudest bhangra beats reinforced the story of celebration – of the man they have come out to watch and of cricket. Kids are getting their faces painted with Indian flags, and people are scrambling to get a good seat. No one wants to leave early if India loses or any of the big Indian players don’t play well.

For every 100 blue jerseys, there was perhaps one yellow jersey to be spotted. But Australians will come in just before the game starts and may not be in yellow, says Ashley Kent, who has come to watch the India-Australia game for the first time even as she has watched a few ties from the Ashes earlier.

But Australians turning up for India matches also demonstrates the stature of Indian cricket Down Under. No wonder then that the museum at SCG has a dedicated section for only one country besides the home team – India.

Everyone has a Virat or Sachin story to tell. Besides Kohli, this may also be the last time Rohit was playing in Australia as the duo have already announced retirement from Tests and T20 formats and there is no ODI series planned for anytime soon here. With Rohit’s unbeaten century and Kohli’s 74 steering India to win, the iconic Indian duo played to the gallery at the iconic SCG.

This might just be Australia’s goodbye to two players they adored. A lot of Indian students in the stands talk about the new Indian identity they got post Kohli. When Mitch Marsh and Shubhman Gill came out for the toss, the crowd cheered again and the stands started to look bluer. At the end of the day, Australia took the series trophy, India won the day.. and Rohit-Kohli won hearts.