When the MCG was a sea of blue

Shikhar Dhawan charges out to Imran Tahir and drives wide of long-off. MCG roars. Dale Steyn tears to his right, bends to try and pick it up one-handed, but fails to. Dhawan and Virat Kohli seize the chance to take a second run. MCG roars louder.

A few overs later, Dhawan pushes Steyn to the off side for a single. The tension builds as David Miller hunts the ball down, but his throw misses. MCG roars. The batsmen pinch another run off another overthrow. MCG roars louder.

An incensed Steyn steams in and bowls the next ball short. Dhawan whips it fine for four. MCG roars. The giant screen shows a close-up of Steyn's face as he swears away in frustration. MCG roars louder.

Four tiers of stands at the largest cricket ground in the world. Encircling the players, with barely an opening in between. You crane your neck upwards to look at the top row of the highest stand, which appears to touch the hanging, heavy cloud. You look down to the first row right at the edge of the outfield. Indian flags waving all around in frenzied uniformity. There is the odd South African one, but it seems as much at home as the South African team does in the face of such an overpowering, partisan crowd on what was supposed to be neutral territory. No wonder Alan Donald called this a home game for India.

This is Eden Gardens and another half of an Eden Gardens on top of it. This is Wankhede Stadium with another Wankhede Stadium on top of it. But this not Kolkata or Mumbai. This is Melbourne.

And there are Indians everywhere at the MCG. Indian citizens. Persons of Indian Origin. Staying across the breadth of the world. Hailing from different parts of a vast country. There was even an India flag with 'Bhuj' and 'Kutch' written on either side of the Ashok Chakra in the middle, showing clearly which part of which state in the country the fans came from. Speaking multiple tongues. Telugu in the row in front. Marathi in this one. Punjabi in the one behind. Hindi to the left. English with an Australian accent to the right.

Meanwhile, Dhawan wants to turn Steyn to leg. The ball balloons to short third man instead. All of them stop the small talk and stand up to scream for the single India take.

Kohli pulls a half-tracker from Imran Tahir straight to midwicket. MCG is stunned, then falls silent, before people start standing up again. Some to applaud Kohli for what seemed set to be many more than 46. Some run right to the edge of the boundary barriers to welcome Ajinkya Rahane. Somebody calls for people to sit down in the front rows because he cannot see what is happening. Nobody listens. This is their day out at the cricket at the MCG. Indian style.

Dhawan is on 99. People have been aware of the approaching landmark for a long time now. The noise is deafening with only a single needed. Dhawan plays three successive dots. The build-up to each ball is so intense you can feel it rush into your skin. He finally punches a boundary to get the hundred and the explosion of sound scorches right through you.

It is one of the days when being a billion-plus helps. You can fill out almost any ground anywhere in the world where your team is playing. Even the massive MCG is simmering with that expectant murmur so typical of Indian grounds throughout, waiting for anything in favour of India. Anything to erupt. It is taken for granted that there will be lots of Indian fans creating an atmosphere at an India limited-overs match, even outside the country. But the fact that it happens, again and again, is wonderful and should be celebrated, not least for the energy it provides and the spectacle it creates.

How must it have felt to be a South African fan in those towering columns of blue? How much pressure must that impassioned mass have put on the South African players? AB de Villiers felt all the support was definitely a boost for India but that his team tried not to let it affect them. But it is a rare day when South Africa fumble so much on the field, and allow so many singles and twos.

What did it mean to MS Dhoni and his men? Dhoni started by saying he was glad he had been asked about the crowd. "The attendance was 86 or 87 thousand (86,876). Let us give the benefit of doubt - 20,000 to the South African fans," Dhoni said. "To get over 50,000 people in Australia… the atmosphere that gets created. It starts from the warm-ups and after the national anthem, it just multiplies.

"The kind of support we are talking about… even when we are playing in India, some of the stadiums do not have that kind of capacity. Even when they are full, they are close to 40,000. Today we are seeing in Australia more than 50 to 60,000 people supporting us. Definitely we need to give a lot of credit to them. It is really heartening to see people coming from all over."

Just imagine the atmosphere if they make the World Cup final here on March 29, someone said after India had won. Just imagine.