Sledging Stokes back into runs was India’s one flaw

► Kohli’s early confrontation with the England all-rounder provoked a fierce response that even included a six off Ashwin

This series had been waiting for its Ben Stokes breakout – the moment when England’s comic-book champion ripped off his whites to reveal the superhero outfit beneath.

For a session or so, we thought that moment would come yesterday. After an anaemic couple of Tests, Stokes gingered up an otherwise wretched morning, giving the alltoo-patriotic pundits in Channel 4’s studio something to show for their 1.30am alarm calls.

If there was a blemish in India’s otherwise accomplished display, it was the way they kick-started Stokes’s engine by eyeballing him – and even exchanging a few choice epithets – as he was only just beginning his innings. Stokes looked nothing but grateful for the antagonism. At that stage, he had just groped his way through his opening over from Mohammed Siraj, showing all the poise and balance of a man experimenting with a virtualreality headset for the first time.

Once the heat came on, though, Stokes was a different man. A bold pull was the highlight of Siraj’s next over, which cost 13 runs. Suddenly, England were locking their jaws and puffing out their chests – even if their punchy attitude was not always matched by perfect execution.

The self-admiring Virat Kohli, inevitably, had been at the heart of the dispute. India’s captain can claim he was only defending his bowlers, for Stokes had deliberately started the argument with a verbal thrust in Siraj’s direction, just five balls into his own innings.

But was it really necessary for Kohli to saunter up to Stokes and his batting partner Jonny Bairstow as they held their mid-pitch conference at the end of that unconvincing first over? To thrust his pointy beard up and forward and challenge the batsmen so unsubtly that umpire Virender Sharma had to come over and physically interpose himself between the warring parties?

I am not making a plea for moral decency here. Sport needs its flashpoints as much as it needs its personalities. The point is a pragmatic one. Like the sports-car driver who pokes his nose in front of an 18-wheeler in heavy traffic, Kohli forgot that he was the one with everything to lose.

There are some players you needle and others you try to ignore, treating them with the same respectful silence you might expect from a chess tournament. Stokes, as much as anyone in the history of the game, stands firmly in the second camp.

The Australians – who are so serious about sledging that they probably take evening courses – recognised this from the day when Stokes made his Test debut in Adelaide in the winter of 2013-14. “I’ve been told not to mess with you,” said their combative wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, as soon as Stokes came to the crease.

Stokes did not even look up, focusing on his boot as he scratched his leg-stump guard. But he still managed a withering comment out of the side of his mouth. “Put it this way, I’ve got enough to deal with you.”

Here is the heir to a long lineage of hard-nosed English batsmen. Even the apparently mild-mannered Michael Atherton has admitted that, on a flat day, he would try to rile himself up by glaring at the shortleg fielder and barking: “What the f--- are you looking at?”

Yesterday morning’s creative tension did at least carry Stokes to his first half-century since the opening day of the series. He even managed one sweet straight six off Ravichandran Ashwin – the professorial offspinner who has tormented him more than any other bowler in world cricket. But it could not last much longer, as Stokes missed a straight one from Washington Sundar. As Channel 4’s Sir Andrew Strauss put it, with a hint of glee at his own wit: “Another batsman nonplussed by the non-turning ball.”

Even if England finished the day in a lamentable position, it still was not wise to poke the bear as India did. It is Kohli’s nature to want to be the centre of attention, all day and every day. When someone issues a challenge, he has no other answer than to meet it head on.

Which is one reason why – despite his undoubted status as the finest batsman of the modern era – he remains an indifferent strategist.