"Didn't expect the pitch to play that low on Day 2 itself" - Paras Mhambrey on Ranchi surface for 4th Test vs England
Team India's bowling coach Paras Mhambrey admitted that the variable bounce in Ranchi on Day 2 of the fourth Test against England surprised them. The former Indian cricketer said that they merely expected to get the wicket slower.
Indian batters found it tough against the English spinners on Day 2 in Ranchi as Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley shared six wickets between them. Only Yashasvi Jaiswal among Indian batters crossed the 50-run mark, as he got out for 73 to Bashir.
Speaking at the post-day press conference, Mhambrey said they historically expected the pitch to only get slower.
"From the couple of games that we have seen out of here previously, generally, the nature of the wicket gets slower and slower as the days progress. In the past also, in the couple of games that were played here, it has got slower and gotten on the lower side as well. So we expected that. But to be honest, we didn't expect the pitch to play that low on Day 2 itself."
He elaborated:
"I think couple of balls did keep low in the first innings also. That's what we didn't expect. We expected it to get slower, but not the variable bounce that we have seen over the last couple of days."
Jaiswal got the ball almost similar to Ben Stokes as the ball kept low to hit the stumps. England's ace batter Joe Root scored a sensational century to propel the tourists to a competitive first-innings total of 353.
"I wouldn't call this a rank-turner" - Paras Mhambrey
Paras Mhambrey suggested that they had no hand in preparing a wicket like this and brushed aside the notions of the surface being a 'rank turner'.
Mhambrey added:
"I don't think the venues are something that we can control. This was a venue alloted for the series. The way the wicket plays out here is similar. it's always not been a rank-turner. I wouldn't call this a rank-turner because there was variable bounce. I don't think there were too many balls that really spun sharply or unplayable deliveries. There was definitely variable bounce, variable bounce on the lower side, that made the batting difficult."
At stumps on Day 2, India were 219/7 as England hope to take the last three wickets for as minimum runs as possible.