You know it’s not your day when you clip your fiercest rival’s rear wheel and totter back to the pits with a ruptured front wing and a penalty.

But to fight back from the bottom of the grid to fifth

As 32 of the world’s top nations — from five-time champions Brazil to new entrants Slovenia — battle it out at football’s biggest extravaganza on earth, India remains a mute spectator, in dire need of a visionary renaissance that will set a billion-strong nation free from the shackles of 70 years of World Cup incompetence.