IND vs ENG 2022: 4 India players who failed to grab their opportunities
As Day 4 of the fifth rescheduled Test between India and England gets underway at Edgbaston, Birmingham on Monday (July 4), there was enough to know which of India's players failed to grab their opportunities with both hands.
While Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja's brilliance took the focus away from these players' failures, there's no doubt they'll crop up once the game finishes on an inevitable Day 5.
On that note, we take a look at the four players who failed to make use of the chances they had to make a mark.
#1 Shubman Gill misses his shot at being India's bonafide opener
With India skipper Rohit Sharma ruled out of the Tests, the onus was on Shubman Gill to see the new ball off and make some runs in the process to cement his position as one of the bonafide openers in the side.
Instead, Gill struggled to negate James Anderson's swing and pace. The 22-year-old's weakness in slashing hard at deliveries away from his off-stump caused his downfall in both innings, where he scored 17 and 4 respectively.
#2 Hanuma Vihari fails to capitalize
With Ajinkya Rahane dropped, the focus was on Hanuma Vihari to play his trademark anchor-like innings, but the batter was disappointing with the bat scoring 20 and 11 in both innings.
With Cheteshwar Pujara holding the fort at the other end, Vihari's style of play was tailormade to grind England down, but the 28-year-old was castled and caught behind by Matthew Potts and Stuart Broad who set him up perfectly.
#3 Virat Kohli's run slump continues
With scores of 33 and 67 in the warm-up game, there was this quiet confidence that Virat Kohli would turn things around.
But the former India skipper got past Anderson and fell to Potts and Ben Stokes — both of whom got the better of him with a peach of a delivery in both the innings.
If it was a moment of indecisiveness that caused his downfall in the first innings where he scored 11, his confidence and stride were undone after Stokes surprised him with a nippy rising delivery that kissed his glove.
Sam Billings failed to glove it, but Joe Root hung on to it, bringing Kohli's innings to an end.
#4 Shreyas Iyer and his short ball woes continue
Tasked to be India's shepherd for the lower order, Shreyas Iyer did little to impress with scores of 15 and 19 in both the innings. The short deliveries did him in yet again, with Anderson and Potts executing their plans to perfection.
The manner of dismissal brings the question of whether the stroke-making batter is ready for the long format overseas.