At the height of Australia’s cricketing dominance, when they were arguably the finest cricket team ever to play the game, their captain, Steve Waugh, described India as “the final frontier”. The implication was that Australia could only be considered truly great if they were able to beat India in India – something that has been achieved only on the rarest of occasions. The challenge of trying to win in India has not, however, been purely the result of Indian cricketing excellence. In fact, India’s overall record has rarely been anything other than mediocre, especially when they travel overseas, so India’s ability cannot in itself fully explain why they almost never lose at home. In this essay therefore, we shall investigate some of the peripheral factors which have resulted in India’s “final frontier” status.