England could scarcely have been made to feel more welcome: the walls of the team hotel are plastered with posters of their recent feats under Ben Stokes. One reads “Let’s unfold victory!” – a kind of reverse origami that, if achieved in the captain’s 100th Test, would secure a 2-1 lead over India with two to play.
Then there is the fact that one of their 30-strong touring party, Rehan Ahmed, could easily have been turned away at the nearly built Rajkot Airport on Monday evening. Returning from the team’s mid-tour break in Abu Dhabi, the leg-spinner unwittingly hit the tarmac with a single-entry visa that had expired by virtue of having left the country.
This oversight – one that felt pretty shoddy by the England management given the problems surrounding Shoaib Bashir’s delayed arrival in India last month – could have proved costly for a side that has lost Jack Leach to injury. Instead, in the Gujarati city where Mahatma Gandhi was educated, the immigration officials opted for benevolence.
There is still the small matter of turning Ahmed’s 48‑hour temporary document into a new visa but the noises from both boards were positive two days out from the third Test that starts on Thursday. Perhaps Rajkot being twinned with Leicester, where the 19-year-old plies his trade in county cricket, may help his case.
Stokes appeared unconcerned by this on the eve of becoming the 16th England player to hit 100 caps. Even that milestone, coming at the ground where Stuart Broad joined the club in 2016, is one about which he was unfussed, Stokes insisting that, beyond showing longevity, it is just “one more than 99” and there is more still to achieve.
Still, it is a reminder of how much he has evolved from the firebrand who emerged from the wreckage of the 2013-14 Ashes and, with a good few setbacks along the way, is now shaping a team in his own image. (Likewise, Rajkot is a reminder that nothing in cricket is a given, this being where Haseeb Hameed made a dazzling debut seven years ago with predictions he was destined for 100 caps.)
Not that Stokes has not thought beyond his playing days, revealing a desire to stay in cricket as a coach. Given his impact as a captain, not least imbuing young players with the confidence to make the step up, this is something English cricket would do well to not let slip like, say, a single-entry visa on a tour that jets in and out of India.
In the here and now, this five‑match series is intriguingly poised, England having taken the lead in Hyderabad only to be pegged back in Visakhapatnam. It may be that Rajkot, hosting its third Test, is one where Stokes’s mantra of taking the draw off the table – something he reiterated on Tuesday – is tested on a surface that traditionally stays true.
All eyes were on the pitch and a green tinge that may or may not remain. Six centuries came in the equivalent match here in 2016, a draw with India six down after being set a conservative target of 311 in a minimum of 49 overs by Alastair Cook. Virat Kohli, then India’s captain, blamed the grass left on for the surface failing to break up.
“I remember coming off the field thinking ‘we’ve got them’ … and then we lost four-nil,” said Stokes, recalling the stalemate with a wry smile. “In those situations you’ve got to risk something if you want to get something. I don’t get much pleasure out of a draw. I’d much rather lose trying to win it.”
As well as needing to win what looks an important toss, plus the small matter of negotiating Jasprit Bumrah and finding a way to suppress the in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal, England pushing things on and opening up the back end of the match will probably require not just collective aggression but a hunger from individuals when set.
Of the 15 Test victories England have secured in India, all but three have been predicated on at least one century. A performance such as the second Test of this series, when Zak Crawley top-scored in both of their innings with 76 and 73, and England’s remaining batters produced 11 scores between 20 and 47, is unlikely to cut it.
While Stokes was mulling a recall for Mark Wood in place of a spinner, Rohit Sharma was considering up to four changes to a winning XI. Sarfaraz Khan, averaging 69.85 in first-class cricket, is poised for his debut, likewise Dhruv Jurel behind the stumps. KS Bharat’s lowly form with the bat is to blame for the latter, despite his glovework being excellent. Among the bowlers, Mohammed Siraj returns from a rest, while Ravindra Jadeja is expected to feature on his home ground with fingers crossed his injured hamstring holds up.
All of which risks making it sound like the hosts are on the run when, in reality, even with Kohli ruled out of the series, they still head into the match as favourites. England may have been made to feel welcome on their return to the country, and much of the focus is on Stokes, but they are unlikely to be simply waved through.
