It seems that on the eve of the fourth and final Test, Sachin made his way to the Ganesha Temple in Nagpur and prayed.

Lord Ganesha is the deity of obstacles and beginnings.

It seems the god with the elephant's head removed the obstacles of Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee's hands.

"For an Aussie to drop a catch is a miracle," my fellow cricket watcher remarked, "but for them to drop two it must be due to God."

This Indian obviously didn't see much of the Aussies during the 80s.

To add further credibility to his theory, they played an Indian song about Ganesha just moments before Lee had a fit of the fumbles.

The brand new ground is very well set-up, if you discount the fact that it is built in a paddock in the middle of nowhere.

My Indian friend said he could not explain why it was built so far away.

The cost of travel out there, and the fact that tickets are only being sold as a "season pass", which means you have to buy all five days, are probably the main factors in the disappointing crowd of about 5000.

But when word gets out about the wonderful samosas they are selling, perhaps it will pick up tomorrow.

And after a nervous start, Australia's "Kaiser of Spin" will certainly have people asking why he didn't get a game earlier.

Maybe his first-class average of 50 might have something to do with it...