England might scarcely have been made to really feel extra welcome: the partitions of the group resort are plastered with posters of their current feats below Ben Stokes. One reads “Let’s unfold victory!” – a sort of reverse origami that, if achieved in the captain’s 100th Test, would safe a 2-1 lead over India with two to play.

Then there’s the truth that considered one of their 30-strong touring social gathering, Rehan Ahmed, might simply have been turned away on the practically constructed Rajkot Airport on Monday night. Returning from the group’s mid-tour break in Abu Dhabi, the leg-spinner unwittingly hit the tarmac with a single-entry visa that had expired by advantage of getting left the nation.

This oversight – one which felt fairly shoddy by the England administration given the issues surrounding Shoaib Bashir’s delayed arrival in India final month – might have proved expensive for a facet that has lost Jack Leach to injury. Instead, within the Gujarati metropolis the place Mahatma Gandhi was educated, the immigration officers opted for benevolence.

There continues to be the small matter of turning Ahmed’s 48‑hour momentary doc into a brand new visa however the noises from each boards had been constructive two days out from the third Test that begins on Thursday. Perhaps Rajkot being twinned with Leicester, the place the 19-year-old plies his commerce in county cricket, could assist his case.

Stokes appeared unconcerned by this on the eve of turning into the sixteenth England participant to hit 100 caps. Even that milestone, coming on the floor the place Stuart Broad joined the membership in 2016, is one about which he was unfussed, Stokes insisting that, past exhibiting longevity, it’s simply “one more than 99” and there’s extra nonetheless to attain.

Still, it’s a reminder of how a lot he has advanced from the firebrand who emerged from the wreckage of the 2013-14 Ashes and, with an excellent few setbacks alongside the best way, is now shaping a group in his personal picture. (Likewise, Rajkot is a reminder that nothing in cricket is a given, this being the place Haseeb Hameed made a dazzling debut seven years in the past with predictions he was destined for 100 caps.)

Not that Stokes has not thought past his enjoying days, revealing a want to remain in cricket as a coach. Given his influence as a captain, not least imbuing younger gamers with the arrogance to make the step up, that is one thing English cricket would do properly to not let slip like, say, a single-entry visa on a tour that jets out and in of India.

In the right here and now, this 5‑match collection is intriguingly poised, England having taken the lead in Hyderabad solely to be pegged back in Visakhapatnam. It could also be that Rajkot, internet hosting its third Test, is one the place Stokes’s mantra of taking the draw off the desk – one thing he reiterated on Tuesday – is examined on a surface that traditionally stays true.

All eyes had been on the pitch and a inexperienced tinge which will or could not stay. Six centuries got here in the equivalent match here in 2016, a draw with India six down after being set a conservative goal of 311 in a minimal of 49 overs by Alastair Cook. Virat Kohli, then India’s captain, blamed the grass left on for the floor failing to interrupt up.

“I remember coming off the field thinking ‘we’ve got them’ … and then we lost four-nil,” mentioned 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 properly as needing to win what seems to be an essential toss, plus the small matter of negotiating Jasprit Bumrah and discovering a technique to suppress the in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal, England pushing issues on and opening up the again finish of the match will in all probability require not simply collective aggression however a starvation from people when set.

Of the 15 Test victories England have secured in India, all however three have been predicated on not less than one century. A efficiency such because the second Test of this collection, when Zak Crawley top-scored in each of their innings with 76 and 73, and England’s remaining batters produced 11 scores between 20 and 47, is unlikely to chop it.

While Stokes was mulling a recall for Mark Wood rather than a spinner, Rohit Sharma was contemplating as much as 4 modifications to a successful 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 kind with the bat is in charge for the latter, regardless of his glovework being glorious. Among the bowlers, Mohammed Siraj returns from a relaxation, whereas Ravindra Jadeja is anticipated to characteristic on his house floor with fingers crossed his injured hamstring holds up.

All of which dangers making it sound just like the hosts are on the run when, in actuality, even with Kohli ruled out of the series, they nonetheless head into the match as favourites. England could have been made to really feel welcome on their return to the nation, and far of the main focus is on Stokes, however they’re unlikely to be merely waved by means of.