The clouds thundered in the background. First it was a drizzle and then the rain came pouring down.
It all lasted only an hour. But that was enough to make the creases on the faces of a cricket fan in Bangalore get deeper with tension and worry.
At the Karnataka State Cricket ground (a tedious name for a cricket stadium), the raindrops striking the huge concrete stands and the soft green ground produced a cacophonic affect.
But despite the rain, people around all appeared busy, their faces radiating a sense of importance that only comes when one feels one is going to be part of something significant.
In a sense, that is understandable. At the moment, anyone in any way connected with the India-Australia series, feels that way.
After the manner in which the two teams have played the last three series against each other, the cricketing world's eyes and minds should be fixed on this four-Test series, leave alone an ordinary Bangalorian fan.
Unlike the chaotic, noisy traffic that makes even the wide roads in Bangalore appear narrow, the only sound inside the ground was that of the rain pelting the stands and the huge sheets of polythene covering the centre square.