Ahmed visa cleared after ‘anxious’ delay

CRICKET NEWS CORRESPONDENT in Rajkot

Rehan Ahmed was cleared yesterday to take his place in an England XI that showed one change for the third Test against India, after an “anxious” wait for visa clearance was ended.

England travelled to Abu Dhabi during the break between the second Test in Vizag and third in Rajkot, but on their return to India on Monday discovered that Ahmed had only a single-entry visa, while his colleagues were allowed to come and go. He was issued an emergency reprieve while officials tried to sort out the issue, before being cleared to stay in the country for the rest of the tour.

Ahmed, 19, kept his place for the match that began this morning, with Mark Wood coming in for Shoaib Bashir in a rebalanced attack featuring two seamers for the first time on the tour.

Unlike Bashir’s visa issue earlier in the tour (when he had to fly back to London from Abu Dhabi to secure entry to India, possibly due to his Pakistani heritage), this blunder was of England’s making. Captain Ben Stokes was not in the mood for apportioning blame, however.

“It was one of those situations for an individual where, having to wait, it’s an anxious period. But thankfully we’ve got it through this morning,” Stokes said. “The guys at the airport did a great job at giving him his visa initially to get through, and then everyone at the Indian cricket board and the government to get the visa through quickly.”

Stokes is playing in his 100th Test here, but it will be the eighth in his past 10 in which he has not bowled. The all-rounder had knee surgery in November and is building back up. He returned to bowling in training in Vizag, and went through three overs at “70 per cent intensity” in both England’s net sessions this week, but has promised that he will not bowl in this series.

“I’ve pinky-promised my physio I won’t be loosening up to bowl even if everything is feeling well, because that would be a risk that’s not worth it,” Stokes said. “The rest of my body has to get up to speed with bowling.”

England have lost Jack Leach for the remainder of the tour due to a knee issue. Joe Root has recovered from a blow to a finger in Vizag.

India expected to have Ravindra Jadeja back in a team showing a number of changes. Batsman Sarfaraz Khan and wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel were in contention for debuts. telegraph.co.uk/sport