Ranchi pitch leaves Ben Stokes scratching his head ahead of 4th Test against India

Ranchi has rolled out the pitch for the fourth Test between India and England. Ben Stokes, the skipper of the visiting side, had a look at it and was pretty confused. The star player was in the pre-match conference ahead of the fourth Test, where he was asked for his take on the pitch for the fourth Test. Stokes felt he had never seen a pitch like that in his life.  

“I’ve never seen something like that before,” said Stokes as he was confused with the way Ranchi’s pitch was rolled out. There have been talks of India not preparing the rank turners in the ongoing series. Experts believe that Ranchi might witness the first rank-turner of the series. The statement of Stokes suggested the same, although he was not sure how the wicket would behave. 

The star All-rounder claimed that the wicket looked in two different ways from two ends. “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,” said the skipper of England. Stokes then felt how the pitch might behave throughout the game. 

Ben Stokes explains Ranchi wicket for fourth Test

The star player claimed that the pitch looked green from the dressing room and added that looking from a close view, one could feel the cracks which could open quickly. Stokes termed the wicket to be ‘Very dark’. “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 England captain added. 

With India leading the series 2-1 at the moment, England has a big task ahead of them to stay alive in the series. They are in a must-win situation in Ranchi. For their lineup in the fourth Test, England announced a couple of changes. Ollie Robinson and Shoaib Bashir come in for Mark Wood and Rehan Ahmed respectively.