The England supporters filed into the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium first thing believing the City of Destiny could live up to the nickname but by 12.50pm local time, as Ben Stokes mooched back to the pavilion muttering under his breath about his dismissal, such thoughts had disappeared like the morning’s sea haze.
England were already struggling to stay afloat by this point, an optimistic attempt to chase down what would have been a record 399 to win now listing at 220 for six after India had repeatedly punctured holes in their hull. And yet while Stokes remained out in the middle with a back catalogue of such feats behind him so, too, did an outside chance.
