India's fastest athletes are rarely the world's fastest. (India's 100m record is more than half a second slower than Usain Bolt's 9.58s). So, when a track event featuring the world's best shows up on screens in India, there isn't even a semblance of hope.
Until the quartet of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Muhammad Ajmal Variyathodi and Rajesh Ramesh limbered up ahead of the World Athletics Champioships' men's 4x400m relay final in August.
You see, the previous night, that quartet had obliterated the Indian record on their way to setting an Asian record of 2:59.05. The moment where India dared to dream? Ramesh, briefly overtaking Justin Robinson of the USA in the anchor leg of the heats - an action that had left the American in a mild panic, although he eventually crossed the finish line first.
Let that settle in for a bit - an American sprinter shaped by the world's best production line, beneficiary of the world's best facilities, was left in a state of panic after being overtaken by an Indian who had been a ticket checker at the Trichy railway station in 2020.
Ramesh did go on to cede the lead as India finished second, but such was his expenditure of energy that he vomited after the race and left in a wheelchair.
India's time was the second best of those heats, and there was genuine hope of a medal going into the Worlds final. The quartet finished with a time that was slower by 0.87 seconds than their record - a large portion of which came when Ajmal had to leap over Botswana's Baboloki Thebe who had tripped into the Indian's path.
USA needed a world-leading time to win the race, France created a national record while claiming silver, Great Britain and Jamaica set their season bests to finish third and fourth with India in fifth.
That there was a twinge of disappointment was a credit to this team - they had taken India to new heights on the world stage, and it all came about on the back of their teamwork and camaraderie. In a sport where even the minor details count, the quartet committed to a sizeable improvement over the last year.
Anas, Ajmal and Ramesh were part of the team that hadn't even qualified for the Worlds finals in 2022 - finishing 12th (3:07.29). With Jacob replacing Ramesh in the Commonwealth Games, things remained much the same as India finished a distant sixth in the final (3:05.51). Their coach, Galina Bukharina, quit after a five-year stint. It would have been easy for the quartet to put aside the relay and focus on their individual distances.
This, though, is a team in every sense of the word, helped in no small part that three are from Kerala and one from Tamil Nadu - there were no cultural barriers to their bonding. Ramesh even cajoled the rest of his teammates into watching the Rajinikanth's hit 'Jailer' before their heroics in Budapest as a way to blow off steam.
The quartet constantly indulge in friendly banter, allowing their competitive selves to shine through while playing volleyball, football, and cricket together. Yet, on the track things remain serious, and honest. Their improvement in 2023? All down to the couple of hours spent training in the morning and then again in the evening, day after day.
Speaking to IANS, Anas, the most experienced of the quartet aged 29, opened up about the trust within the group, saying "We talk after each training session, practice race, main race, about how it went, and we open up the tiniest of things to each other. If we have any concerns, we raise it immediately. Fixing mistakes can happen when you are friends with the people you are in the team with because there is trust between you. It is a great motivation that people around me completely understand me and we all can communicate effectively at all times."
In a sport where the teamwork extends to pushing each other, the quartet also improvised a change in the baton-exchange technique, advised by their coach Raj Mohan. It shaved a few seconds off their times, and the results kept coming.
After their heroics at the Worlds, where they were the pressure-free underdogs, the spotlight was firmly on them at the Asian Games in Hangzhou where they came in as favourites.
So of course, it would be the experienced Anas to start - the one who wouldn't crumble under the pressure, and he did precisely that, second at the baton exchanges behind Qatar.
Jacob, the bundle of boundless energy that was a parallel to his upbringing in Delhi, went next - he was the anchor before, but that energy would be put to good use as he took India from second to first with a terrific surge past Qatar.
Ajmal, the calm one of the bunch, kept things steady with his typical consistency and there were no errors or athletes from Botswana to leap over this time. A quick baton exchange with Ramesh, and India were firmly in the lead - the ticket-checker now unleashing his inner Bolt as he celebrated with a kiss to the baton as he ran past the finish line.
India were gold medallists at the Asian Games in the men's relay 4x400 once again, although this came after 61 years. A quartet of disparate individuals who came together in 2023 and through teamwork and trust, their whole became greater than the sum of its parts.
And for that, Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Muhammad Ajmal Variyathodi and Rajesh Ramesh are ESPN India's Team of the Year.