Fight shown by Hanuma Vihari is all that is required from other Indian batsmen

Really? Is that all that was required of Dhawan, Rahul, Pujara, Rahane and Pant during the ongoing Test series against England? The short answer is yes.

And yes, Vihari survived a few close calls in the early part of his innings yesterday. He top-edged one for six and almost holed out to Adil Rashid at fine leg. Technically, he does not appear as the most gifted of batsmen to have donned the Indian cap. I am not saying he is the next big thing, and we are not even sure if he will be on that flight to Australia.

But the point is that he did not repeat his mistakes again and again and again - something that most of the Indian top order could simply not resist during the course of this series. He blocked some in-swingers from Stokes, Broad and Anderson, and played with soft hands the moment he realized the ball was moving away.

The point is that this guy is only doing his job - and that is to spend quality time out in the middle. If only India had done that much, they could have won four Test matches this year - at Cape Town, Centurion, Edgbaston and Southampton. In all these matches, the bowlers more than lived up to their expectations and only needed batsmen to put up average enough runs on the board.

While prolific scorers like Mayank Aggarwal have not yet received the opportunity to play for India, Hanuma Vihari has at least done his bit in justifying his selection. An unbeaten fifty(at the time of writing) in a troublesome situation in what has been a humiliating overseas tour for his team will certainly go a long way in showing the direction to others.

It is all a matter of how much you value the opportunity to represent your country. And whether you do it match after match after match. Hanuma Vihari is yet playing his maiden international innings - and it's early days to judge. But it is these situations that separate the men from the boys. It's such situations when big players are made. Or rather, they make sure they use such situations as opportunities and not obstacles.

These are the sort of situations that champions relish. Just like Sachin Tendulkar did early in his career with his team in a tricky position at Old Trafford in 1990. Or Ganguly and Dravid at Lord's in 1996. Or Laxman at Sydney in 2000. Or Virat Kohli at Adelaide in 2012.