INDIA’S sustained disrespect for their legion of fans continued on Wednesday with supporters locked out of the SCG and captain MS Dhoni refusing to fulfil his media obligations on the eve of a World Cup semi-final.

But at least Virat Kohli made some effort to acknowledge the people that make he and his teammates such stars, signing a few autographs through the fence for the dozens shut out on Driver Avenue.

The rest of his teammates simply retreated back to the dressing rooms.

A whopping 70 per cent of today’s capacity crowd are estimated to be Indians, not that captain Dhoni would care.

Asked why his skipper was absent from his obligatory pre-match press conference, his unwitting replacement Rohit Sharma was unable to provide a plausible explanation.

Asked if there was anything wrong with Dhoni, Sharma replied:

“He’s fine.”

At least on the field, India is confident of giving their fans their money’s worth.

Kohli predicted Australia are vulnerable to folding under the weight of expectation.

“There will be a lot of pressure on them,” Kohli told Fox Sports.

“If we can exploit that, it will be great for us.

“Everyone is expecting them to win and I’m sure they’re aware of that.

“If you get into that zone of knowing what people expect from you and you actually start thinking about it, it’s not a good zone to be in.

“Trust me — they will be under massive pressure.”