The Indian squad members had just completed the fitness portion of their training session at Adelaide Oval on Thursdayand were poised to shift to the nets when team director Ravi Shastri gathered them in a circle on the turf.
As he addressed the players and their heads seemingly bowed in unison, their instinctive gesture was as good as confirmation of what had been feared: that the blow that felled Phillip Hughes on Tuesday would prove to be fatal.
Within seconds, phones of those nearby in the stands began buzzing with the morbid news.
The training session was immediately cancelled. Players and staff collected their gear and immediately left.
Given the gravity of the situation authorities promptly postponed the practice match between India and a Cricket Australia XI, which was due to begin on Friday at Adelaide Oval.
The initial intention was for the two-day match to be played on Saturday and Sunday, but by Thursday evening the decision was taken to cancel the match completely. The mindset of players due to be involved, many of whom played with and against the left-hander, would have been influential in that decision.
India will keep to their plan of not leaving for Brisbane until Monday. In the meantime they will continue training in Adelaide, next on Friday morning.
The touring team, players and officials, offered their condolences to Hughes' family.
"In this moment of grief, we pray that they are bestowed with divine strength to overcome this unfortunate tragedy," they said in a statement. "As fellow cricketers we cherish the memories of playing along with him and deeply respect his contribution to the game of cricket."
The composition of the CA XI squad appeared likely to give India a more thorough preparation for Australia's Test pace attack, from the inclusion of Pat Cummins and Gurinder Sandhu as opponents for their final practice match before the series. By mid afternoon, however, it rated barely a footnote given the news that succeeded it.
The NSW duo headlined the six inclusions for the two-day match, which Test captain Michael Clarke had been slated to play in.
Cummins, 21, is of huge interest to national selectors but his injury record means he is not in immediate Test contention, as Cricket Australia is prioritising a gradual increase in his workload over this summer to reduce the likelihood of another serious back injury.
He is, however, in contention for Australia's one-day World Cup squad.
In addition to Cummins and Sandhu, the CA XI pace attack was to have been bolstered by Tasmanian squad member and Netherlands international Timm van der Gugten.
The others added since the first match ended on Tuesday were NSW batsmen Kurtis Patterson and Jake Doran, and Victorian all-rounder Alex Keath.
Doran last year faced England in a tour match when he was just 16.
None of the six players added to the CA XI had been due to feature in the now-abandoned round of the Sheffield Shield, with Sandhu having served as 12th man in the Blues' match against South Australia in which Hughes was struck while batting.
Among the six players retained for the CA XI's now-cancelled second match was Sam Grimwade, a Victorian off-spinner who claimed the wicket of India's Ajinkya Rahane on a day he was due to be completing his year 11 English and politics exams.
Five of India's 18-man squad were not used in the first match. Barring a late addition of a practice match, pacemen Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav and spinner all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja are the Test contenders who will not have played at all before the Tests. Third-choice wicketkeeper Naman Ojha and spinner Lokesh Rahul were likely to have been reserve players anyway.
