England’s skipper Ben Stokes injected pleasure into discussions in regards to the Ranchi pitch forward of the fourth Test in opposition to India, expressing his astonishment on the distinctive 22-yard strip. With India main the five-match sequence 2-1, the upcoming Test is ready to start on Friday. The focus has been on the “platey cracks” on the pitch, as described by England batter Ollie Pope.
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Stokes contributed to the intrigue, stating, “It looked interesting, didn’t it? I don’t know. I can’t say much. I don’t know, I’ve never seen something like that before so I have no idea. I don’t know what could happen.” He additional elaborated on the peculiarities of the pitch, remarking, “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.”
The uncommon nature of the pitch has additionally affected England’s decision-making concerning their taking part in 11. While pacer Ollie Robinson is ready to switch Mark Wood, the selection between including a fourth spinner in Shoaib Bashir or an additional batter in Dan Lawrence stays undecided for now. Stokes praised Robinson’s abilities, stating, “He’s got unbelievable skills to be a successful bowler anywhere in the world. What we’ve seen in England is he’s very skillful, but we’ve seen more than that in Pakistan. It’s similar but different here, but the skill he possesses, he can find any movement, and his release point is always going to be dangerous.”
Regarding his personal participation in bowling, Stokes remained considerably secretive, saying, “My knee itself was absolutely fine today bowling. It was just good to push past that 20-minute barrier, which is what I’ve been working around at the moment. It might be a bit stiff but we’ll wait and see.”
