It might appear outlandish to even imagine so. But with a little more application, greater smarts and the rub of the green going their way, India could so easily have already taken a winning 3-0 lead in the ongoing Test series.

Every mistake India have made has been ruthlessly punished by an England side that has perhaps been taken by surprise at the ferocity with which their reasonably inexperienced opponents have come at them. In Leeds, when they had the opportunity to bat England out of the contest — in both innings — India did themselves no favours with implosions of seven for 41 and six for 31, exacerbated by a series of dropped catches, to court a five-wicket hammering.

No edge after first innings

At Lord’s, they paid the price for a run out that should not have been. Rishabh Pant’s dismissal in the last over before lunch in a bid to get KL Rahul on strike so that he could get to three-figures before the break on Day Three was not necessarily the turning point, but it was a huge moment in the game. It was a moment that converted a potentially decisive first-innings lead to a situation where the teams were dead level after their respective first forays, which meant India had no edge when it came to tackling a tricky target on an up-and-down fourth-innings surface.