IT WAS early afternoon on Monday when Shane Watson strode back into the hotel Australia are staying at in the city of Chandigarh, a 20-minute bus ride to the site of the third Test against India.
He was alone and headed straight for the elevators en route to his room.
Nothing out of the ordinary about that - except that Australia had only just begun training at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.
Half an hour later Watson's baggage emerged at the concierge desk, followed shortly by the man himself, decked out in a suit and tie, with his travel bag slung around his shoulder.
He fixed up his account at reception and, accompanied by a team security official, jumped in a hotel car and raced off to the airport.
Watson's dramatic departure became central to the plot of one of the most turbulent weeks in recent Australian cricket history.
A television crew met him in transit in Singapore, then a heaving media pack welcomed him when he finally stepped off the plane in Sydney.
By then his commitment had already been questioned by his boss, the Cricket Australia high performance chief Pat Howard, who added fuel to the fire by saying publicly that Watson and captain Michael Clarke had ''issues'' they needed to sort out.
Conspiracy theories, meanwhile, were flying about Watson's part in the "homework" saga and the standing down of him and three others.
According to one, the other offenders - James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khawaja - were cast out as collateral damage in a devious plan just to get Watson out of the side. The vice-captain, in the emotion of leaving the tour, even said he was contemplating giving Test cricket away.
The reality is that he will almost certainly be back, and probably by next week for the fourth and final Test in Delhi, now that his wife, Lee, has given birth to their first child, Will.
Her pregnancy was the main reason he took off immediately after being dumped but there was undoubtedly a strong hint of discontent in his exit, too.
Being suspended from a Test felt like a jab to the solar plexus for Watson. The way he sees it, he has missed enough already.
Since he made his debut in January 2005 he had been absent from 52 of the 92 Tests Australia had played, largely a result of the succession of injuries he has suffered and then overcome repeatedly.
Compared to those setbacks, however, this should be a breeze.
This young Australian side needs Watson - as an all-rounder, which he plans to be again by the Ashes - to add balance to a line-up that is missing when he is a specialist batsman only.
And Watson needs Australia. He is 31 years old, and has had a brilliant limited-overs career, but is still an unfulfilled talent at Test level.
Expect the joy of fatherhood to soothe his pain over being punted in Mohali. After a changed nappy or two over the weekend he is likely to be straight back on the plane.
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