The physique is as lean as it ever has been. The tattoos now stretch across a sleeker canvas. The cheekbones protrude a little more. Only the beard looks burdened with extra heft. Blow the dust off the memes - Ben Stokes looks more like Vincent van Gogh than ever before. A cricketer's appearance once in a long while, if at any point, warrants examination. In any case, for one to seem as though they've dropped from heavyweight to middleweight status a little more than 50 days from a serious knee activity is cause for some thought. What's more, it was a significant knee activity, incidentally. For such a long time, Stirs up had kept the condition of his left knee as calm as conceivable while his worked developments and failure to satisfy bowling obligations as an allrounder shouted reality with each frown. That included minimizing the medical procedure at last controlled by expert Dr Andy Williams at the confidential Cromwell Emergency clinic in southwest London toward the finish of November. "It was somewhat more than a 'reasonable out' too," Stirs up uncovered on Tuesday evening in Hyderabad, having leant on that depiction in the months paving the way to the method. A bone prod was taken out, while the meniscus was supported with fastens. The hesitance to undergo surgery came from a legit place. A feeling of obligation to Britain and, at last, fear. "Medical procedure is dependably the last choice," he said. "Medical procedures can go well indeed, however they can likewise here and there not go excessively well, and put individuals in a difficult spot significantly further, and possibly even end vocations." It was dread that spurred Stirs up to strip down to a build lead trainer Brendon McCullum compared to a greyhound recently. When Britain's ODI World Cup had finished rashly at the gathering stages, Stirs up set about a pre-operation routine to shed mass. "Since clearly, the less weight you're conveying, the less weight you have going through your knee and, really, the faster your recuperation is," he made sense of. A Britain representative placed Stirs up has lost 8-10kg. That has been worked with by way of life changes, like cutting liquor, and a ton of hard join. The rationale demonstrated sound. Following the activity, what started as week by week evaluations with ECB clinical staff transformed into once every a multi day arrangements, given the speed increase of his recuperation. Days spent in the rec center over Christmas and New Year were as a lot to bring the knee satisfactory as "fixing" the wrinkles in the remainder of the body, which had recently been overburdened by overcompensating for the dodgy joint. All of which drove flawlessly into the fourteen day instructional course in the UAE prior to landing in India. "When we got to Abu Dhabi it was a great chance to be squeezing things on a little, and begin propelling myself," made sense of Stirs up. "Perceiving how I was responding, how I was awakening every day, how I was getting past lengthy hard meetings, three or four distinct things as the day progressed." There were baffling minutes, as well, especially when it came to the genuine cricket. Changes he made over the most recent few years to cover for his knee while batting, for example, should have been scattered in the nets and meetings out in the center. "Subliminally, I was somewhat doing what I was doing before I had it [the operation] on the grounds that it's practically similar to muscle memory to perhaps not get into specific positions. Be that as it may, the increasingly more I batted, the more I found, really, it's far more agreeable at this point. I can make it happen. You know, it's simply come through preparing to an ever increasing extent." This has continued into India, in front of the primary Test which starts on Thursday. "I kind of don't consider it, assuming that checks out? Furthermore, getting into this period before the game beginnings, you're pondering the game though the primary several nets I had I was more similar to trying things out, perhaps not committing myself however much I would do in a game. "Yet, that all comes from returning from the medical procedure. Simply trying things out to perceive how everything is responding and clearly now my psyche is centered around the game. So presently I don't have those contemplations in my psyche." Apparently, Stirs up is early and hopes to play every one of the five Tests. Furthermore, on the cusp of his most memorable India visit as skipper, a man whose initiative includes diverting recognition onto others permitted himself a snapshot of pride.