In Cuttack, on the eve of the rain-ruined tie against Australia, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Mohammad Azharuddin sat side by side near the nets, awaiting their respective turns at bat.
Sidhu stared down at the logo of his bat with the intense concentration of one reading the final pages of a whodunit.
Azhar stared away into the horizon, his attitude that of one contemplating the mysteries of the universe.
Neither looked at, nor spoke to, the other.
Later that same evening, Sambaran Bannerjee - the only member of the Indian selectors in Cuttack for the game - met both players in their respective hotel rooms, for one on one chats. Bannerjee's message was simple - let bygones be bygones, you two are the seniormost players in the side and will need to pull together in harmony if the Indian team is to do well.
Bannerjee said that both players responded positively to his overtures, though neither of them has as yet sought out the other and made formal peace.
It is only to be expected that both players will be cool to each other. After all, Sidhu walked out of the tour of England during the one day series, alleging that he had been systematically humiliated by the Indian skipper. This allegation, and the storm it raised, merely added to the pressure on Azhar, and intensified the demands for his ouster as India's cricket captain.
Though, at the subsequent inquiry conducted by the BCCI, Sidhu said there was no truth to widely circulated stories of how he had not been informed that he was being dropped from the side for the third one-dayer against England, that he had padded up in all innocence and found the captain and others laughing at him, and so on, the rumours were widely believed at the time, and ended up making Azhar a hate figure.
It is rather too much to expect the bad blood to be forgotten in a hurry.
For now, the two stay in seperate rooms - Sidhu being teamed with Sunil Joshi, while Azhar as a former skipper rates a room to himself.
They meet only when they have to - at team meetings, in the hotel dining room, at the nets and, of course, during match days.
At the same time, it is increasingly vital that the two play in harmony together - especially as Sachin Tendulkar now seems sure that he will open with Ganguly when the southpaw's leg injury heals and he returns to the side. This will mean Sidhu at three and Azhar at four - two players with over 300 ODIs between them.
The two are an antithesis of cricketing styles - Azhar all wrist and elegance, Sidhu all power and obduracy; Azhar lightning quick between wickets, Sidhu one of the worst runners in the Indian side...
And yet their contribution, in tandem, will be vital to the side. And - who knows - perhaps one big, match winning partnership between the two will do more than anything else to mend fences between India's two seniormost players...