The England Skipper Ben Stokes reacts by the pitch for the fourth test match in Ranchi on England’s tour of India 2024.
Ben Stokes Reacts on Ranchi Pitch Conditions
England Cricket team skipper Ben Stokes has exclaimed that Ranchi Pitch is something that he has never seen and he doesn’t know how it will play.
Captain Ben Stokes and VC Ollie Pope had the same views about the 22 yards for the fourth test. It is set to turn but how quickly and how much are the big questions
“I’ve never seen something like that before. I have got no idea so I don’t know what could happen. If you looked down one side of opposite ends it just looked different to what I am used to seeing, especially out in India.”
“It looked green and grassy up in the changing rooms, but then you go out there it looked different: very dark and crumbly and quite a few cracks in it,” said Stokes.
After securing a victory in the first test, England suffered back-to-back in the second and third tests. They are mouth-watering for a victory in the fourth test of the India tour.
“If it does spin from ball one, it takes the toss out of the equation, then it’s an even playing field,” Pope told reporters.
“A lot of the time the wicket starts flat and then deteriorates. We won the first game batting first, India the last two batting first. It doesn’t define the result if you bat first on a slightly flatter wicket but it does give you an advantage,” he added.
“At the minute, it looks like batting from the far end, it’s outside the right-hander’s off-stump and then from this end, the left-hander’s off-stump.”
“It just looks like it’s down the wicket, it’s kind of plated on one side and then the other side looks like a pretty good wicket,” concluded Pope.
India won the second test by 106 runs Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin picked 3 wickets each to secure victory for the side.
India had their biggest test win on the third test against England with 434 runs at Rajkot. Jadeja was named as the Player of the Match for his heroic deeds in the test with bat and ball.
Indian team reached Ranchi on February 20 while Jasprit Bumrah traveled to home town as he was rested for the fourth test.
India leads the test series 2-1 and will be playing their fourth test starting on February 23 at JSCA International Stadium Complex.
