England captain Stokes says no blame game after Ahmed’s anxious visa wait

England captain Ben Stokes said yesterday that teenage spinner Rehan Ahmed had taken his visa scare in his stride ahead of his participation in this week’s third Test against India.

The 19-year-old Ahmed, a leg-spinner, had an issue on returning to India after the team’s 10-day break in Abu Dhabi.

Ahmed had a single-entry visa that expired once he left for a mid-series break to the UAE, and was initially stopped at the airport before being granted a temporary entry permit while authorities resolved the issue.

“It was always one of those situations for an individual where having to wait for that, it’s always an anxious period, but thankfully we’ve got it through this morning,” Stokes said on the eve of his landmark 100th Test.

“The great thing about youth is they just take everything in their stride and I thought he handled a situation – could have affected quite a lot of people in a different way – very, very well for such a young kid.”

Ahmed is the latest cricketer with Pakistani ancestry to face entry troubles in India. Teammate Shoaib Bashir had to miss the opening Test due to his visa issues, but for Ahmed the case has been reported as a paperwork mistake on the English side.

“When you have a problem like that, rather than try to blame someone, you just have to try to find a solution and get it sorted,” said Stokes.

“We’ve had two of those situations so far on this trip,” he added. “When it came up at the airport we were straight on to doing what we needed to do to get Rehan in rather than wasting time trying to find out whose fault it was.”

Ahmed, England’s youngest cricketer in all three formats, has taken eight wickets in the series at an average of 36.37.

The match will see Stokes play his 100th Test, the 16th England cricketer to achieve the feat, but the star all-rounder played down the landmark.

“Milestones are what they are,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed playing against India because of the contest, the theatre it brings.”

The tourists made one change for the match that started in Rajkot today, with spinner Bashir making way for Mark Wood to come in as the second seamer alongside James Anderson.

England decided to change their combination of three spinners and one seamer, which they have used so far in the five-match series, which is currently tied at 1-1.

Wood, 34, makes his return after going wicketless in the opener, which the tourists won on a turning track.

Ahmed is the latest cricketer with Pakistani ancestry to face entry troubles. Shoaib Bashir missed the first Test