But yesterday at Carlton in Sydney's south he swathed his head in green, white and orange to join the growing ranks of the Swami Army for the second day of the India-Australia Test at the SCG.

''I'm living here and I love this country, and this country gave me so much,'' the 27-year-old from Delhi said. ''But if India is playing with Australia, hey, we have to support India.''

There is more than one group calling themselves the Swami Army. A co-founder of the largest, "Aussie born-and-bred" Amit Grover, says his group began informally among friends about 12 years ago, but attained official supporter status last June. It has since attracted 3500 members, and mirroring the cheek of its English counterparts, has borrowed the tune of Waltzing Matilda for an ode to Sachin Tendulkar.

''One of the aims we the Swami Army want is to bring people back to live cricket,'' he said. ''What we're trying to do is to bring a bit of atmosphere.''

A love of cricket is said to run in India's blood, and that now runs in Australia's, too. Although 147,106 people signalled they were Indian-born in the 2006 Australian census, 234,718 named it as their ancestry.

''We come out to Test matches even if India's not here,'' Mr Grover said. ''But we also have that cultural heritage and we hold on to that culture and our parents are big Indian supporters when they were in India and when they moved out here.''

Mr Singh, who sits with a branch of the army that spells its name ''Swamy'', was first encountered by the Herald in the stands the last time India and Australia met in Sydney in 2008, and he was singled out by television cameras again this week. He claims to be such a regular at the SCG, its security staff know him and his dhol drum by sight.

The St George cricketer arrived in Australia five years ago as a student and now hopes to join his clubmate and cousin, Gulshan Bedi, in permanent residency. Department of Immigration and Citizenship figures show that at 21,768, India was Australia's third largest source of migrants last year.

In winter, Mr Singh's turban will turn blue to show his support for his NRL team, the Bulldogs. Mr Bedi, 41, said the Canterbury team was his local side when he arrived in Australia in 1999. His son, Australian-born Ronak Bedi, 9, said a Bulldogs premiership would top an Indian Test victory - although either result seemed a distant prospect yesterday.