India, June 23 -- In the first session on Day 4, India added 63 runs in nearly 25 overs. The first 100 runs of the fourth-wicket partnership between KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant consumed 194 balls. These are numbers you could relate to in Test cricket. Note however the small discrepancy in India's scoring rate across two innings of the first test. On a spicy Headingley pitch that was occasionally under cloud cover, India had ended the first innings with a run rate of 4.16. Batting becomes comparatively easier in the second innings with the pitch easing up and the outfield quickening but India still chose to be cautious for a while after Shubman Gill played on to his stumps.

It was not without reason. Reflect on the few years of the Stokes-M...