A small ritual played out repeatedly in the early moments of the post-Tea session on the second day of the Headingley Test. Each time Jasprit Bumrah walked in from fine leg to his bowling mark at the start of an over, Karun Nair would jog up and meet him halfway to take his cap and hand it to the umpire.
The game was at a delicate point, a time when superstitions can hit overdrive. England had motored off to 129 for 2, having survived one Bumrah burst before Tea under sullen skies. India's hopes of steering ahead once more hinged on their talisman's spell at the start of a session. And he nearly delivered again. Ollie Pope, on 60, was drawn into a false shot by the awkward angle Bumrah creates and the steer flew to gully, where Yashasvi Jaiswal put it down.
It was the last ball of the 31st over. When the cap was returned to Bumrah, this time directly by the umpire, he buried his face in it. No one got near him, until Rishabh Pant decided to run the long path Nair had taken all evening to offer a consolatory hug.
That passage summed up India's day. The knocks came, no one answered the door. And when they should've shut the door, they left it ajar, just wide enough for England to peek through and think of possibilities.