Ranchi’s low bounce catches India off-guard

India's rare defeats in home Tests over the past decade tend to be of two types. In Pune in 2017 and Indore last year, they lost to Australia on square turnovers that narrowed the gap between India's spin attack and that of the visitors. In Chennai in 2021, they lost to England on a pitch where the toss had a significant influence on the result: it was flat on the first two days, when England piled up 578, and started to take an appreciable turn subsequently.

Now, after two days of play in Ranchi, India could be on course for another defeat at home. They are seven behind and 134 adrift of England's first innings total, and they will be batting fourth. And the pitch that helped get them to this position was a curious one, combining the effects of the Pune/Indore-style bunsen and the Chennai-style pitching burr.

It's not exactly a square turner, but it does have armored casters with variable bounce – a particularly low bounce. And while the Ranchi pitch has never been flat, an uneven bounce seems to have a greater effect on day two than day one, and it will only get worse. The draw could therefore have been crucial.

There is a caveat, however. For losing the toss, India got a window of seam movement and awkward bounce for their fast bowlers on the first morning, when there was some moisture in the pitch with which the new ball could to work. Debutant Akash Deep took three wickets in his first spell, helping reduce England to 112 for 5.

Since then, however, England have benefited from the better conditions and have batted brilliantly and bowled to take full advantage of them. Batting became easier during the second and third sessions of the first day, when the pitch dried up and the ball lost its hardness and shine. Although a weak rebound posed a threat even on the first day, it only seemed to become more pronounced on the second day.

The conditions contributed to the vulnerable position India found themselves in, and their bowling coach, Paras Mhambrey, suggested they were surprised by the way this pitch played out and how quickly the Uneven bounces became a factor.

“From the few matches we've seen here previously, the general nature of the wicket is that it gets slower and slower as the days go on,” he said. “In the past too, if you see a few matches that [were] played, it became slower, on the lower side as well. So we expected it, but to be honest we didn't expect the match to be this low on day two.

“I think a few balls stayed low in the first few innings as well, but that's what we didn't expect. We expected it to slow down as the days went by, but not the variable bounce that we got seen over the last few days.”

The low bounce had a knock-on effect on the game. Apart from the chances it directly helped create, it also widened the margin for error for the spinners. Throughout this series, India took advantage of the relative lack of control from England's young spin attack, but on this Ranchi pitch, the bowlers had to take some real long jumps to get attacked square of the wicket. Given the shooter's threat, hitters had to deliver a straight stick even to slightly short balls.

Just as Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley bowled, this expanded margin for error also helped them settle in and build a compelling pace. They bowled 32 and 19 overs respectively virtually in one go – their only break came when they swapped ends late in the day – and made excellent use of their high exit points and entry pace in the field, attributes for which they were selected. this tour in front of more experienced candidates.

In the past, India have clearly expressed their preference for spinner-friendly pitches during some home series. During the Border-Gavaskar series last year, their coach Rahul Dravid admitted that the pressure of having to win Test matches and accumulate points in the World Test Championship was leading them to push for turning pitches rather than flat ones.

The first three Tests of this India-England series witnessed a return to a more traditional, largely batter-friendly Indian fielding style over the first three days or so, with attrition bringing spinners into play thereafter .

This pitch in Ranchi was different. Heading into the Test match, India might have been right to call for a spinning pitch given that they were resting Jasprit Bumrah, their main fast bowler and most influential player in the series. According to Mhambrey, they made no such request and expected this ground, given its history, to play the same way as Rajkot for the third Test.

“First, locations are not something we can control,” he said. “It was also a series venue. The way the wicket is played here has always been similar. It hasn't always been a rank turner. I wouldn't call it a rank turner because there had variable bounce I don't think too many balls were turning sharply off the wicket and there was variable bounce on the underside making it difficult to bat.

“But that is the nature of the ground and there was no specific instruction of a row turner from us. It was a wicket similar to [Rajkot] which turned a little. We expected it to be similar, but the ground here is different and you can't guarantee the exact wicket you want. Honestly, there were no instructions that said we needed a turner. I don't think it's a turner at the moment. It's just the low bounce that makes hitting a bit difficult. I don't think there was a ball that really turned to call it a turning wicket here. »