Life is unusual these days for cricket's superstars who have left behind the big bucks, glamour and adoring fans to play in the Commonwealth Games where cricket is making its debut. But all this is fair game, say the cricketers.``When we left (India) we knew it was not going to be the same,'' said Ajay Jadeja, the Indian captain. ``We decided that we are going to the Games to win a medal and it does not matter that you are not getting room service,'' he added.

Unlike their regular five-star lifestyle, the cricketers must stay five-to-an-apartment in the Games Village, a condominium complex of sparsely furnished high-rise homes.

There are no phones in the rooms and athletes make their own tea. Buffet food is laid out in a cafeteria, but no special orders, please. The launderette is on the ground level.

The cricketers say they are prepared for all this. ``The guys makeuse of what's around. There have been no complaints,'' said Steve Bernard, the manager of Australia's team, one of 16 sides competing.

Jadeja said his team-mates also are glad to leave the autograph hunters behind and lose themselves in the anonymity of a crush of 5,000 athletes at the Games Village.

At the Village, instead of being hunted by fans, the cricketers are seeking out others. The Indians cheered their country's hockey team in a match against Australia on Wednesday and went out for dinner with weightlifters yesterday.

For the purists, it's a joy to see cricket played with the same pristine qualities that characterized it until about two decades ago. Players discarded the coloured clothing of one-day international matches and have donned the yesteryear their shirts bereft of sponsors' logos. Playing as amateurs they will not be paid. ``It is irrelevant that there is no money. We wanted to be a part of it ( Games), for the glory of getting a gold,'' Bernard said.