The workout, part of a 10-day preparatory camp at the M A Chidambaram Stadium in Madras, kicked off with a very strenuous workout and fielding practise that lasted for an hour and a half. With new skipper Sachin Tendulkar and team manager Sandeep Patil egging them on, the Indian team members threw themselves around on the lush turf, their brief being to perfect the art of the sliding stop.

``Some players, like Ajay Jadeja, have perfected the knack of sliding before they stop the ball. We are trying to teach the others that knack. But in any event,'' said Patil, ``the players have been told that their mission is to stop the ball at all costs, sliding, falling, or otherwise. Stop the ball, that's it!''

It is an art they will need to take full use of, when they take on World Cup champions Sri Lanka and finalists Aus- tralia in Sri Lanka later this month. Both teams are known for their rapid, almost breath-taking, pace of run-making, and the Indian fielders will need to be on their toes to back their bowlers to the hilt - a fact recognised, apparently, by both Tendulkar and Patil if one is to judge from the emphasis the side is putting on fielding.

Earlier in the day, a team of doctors flown down from Bangalore, in tandem with team physio Ali Irani, put the Indian players through a strenuous endurance test. And this, apparently, is the beginning of a bid to ensure that the players are always in fighting trim. ``Such tests,'' Patil said, ``will be performed once every six months, this is some- thing both the players and I have agreed upon. This will, we feel, tone up our general fitness levels.''

All this activity, meanwhile, is taking place under the keen eye of national selector Anshuman Gaekwad. This is the first time that a national selector is monitoring a coaching camp - normally, the role of the selection committee ends when the team for a tour is picked. However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has insisted that this time round, a selector be present throughout the duration of the coaching camp.

Chairman of the national selectors G R Vishwanath will join Gaikwad later this week. And the two former Test stars have been briefed by the board to keep their eyes open and, if fitness or any other consideration demands, to make changes in the selected squad, as they see fit.

Patil, after facing flak for the team's lackadaisical showing in England - there was even some suggestion that he should be sacked for failing to hold the team together - appears to have got his second wind and is now playing a more evident role. ``I have written to each player, personally, informing him about preparations for the tours coming up, and for the ones to follow. And I have made it clear that negligence, bad behaviour and such will not be tolerated at any cost.''

This military-style regime, says Patil, is how it should be. ``After all,'' argued the Indian manager, ``they are play- ing for the country, and our collective effort should be to boost the image of Indian cricket.''

Meanwhile, the Indian management has taken an interest- ing decision, calculated to bring wry grins to the faces of those who have seen, in recent times, pictures of former India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin and other leading members talking into cell phones, sometimes even during breaks in the action on the field of play.

``Cellular phones have been banned,'' said Patil firmly, ``once the players are out of their hotel rooms.'' Players would not be permitted to carry and use cell phones even during their practise sessions, the Indian manager clarified.

As the old saying goes, we live in interesting times...