The pitch at Ranchi for the fourth India vs England Test has been underneath lot of focus. Though to this point, there are demons as such that are more likely to create a noise, the discussions round it have been immense. From complicated Ben Stokes on the eve of the Test match to being known as ‘shocker, the Ranchi pitch has seen all of it. On Saturday, on Day 2 of the sport, Ollie Robinson gifted away his wicket after making a career-best 58 that resulted in England’s first innings ending at 353 at the same time as Joe Root remained unbeaten on 122.

On the primary day of the match, former England captain Michael Vaughan wrote on X: “The old saying .. Do not judge a pitch till both teams have batted and bowled on it .. but let’s be honest .. this one looks a shocker ..#INDvsENG” Michael Vaughan posted on X on Friday. 

The outdated saying .. Do not choose a pitch until each groups have batted and bowled on it .. however let’s be sincere .. this one appears a shocker .. #INDvsENG

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) February 23, 2024

Then he did a U-Turn and wrote: “The pitch is clearly no longer a shocker .. #INDvsENG” 

The pitch is clearly not a shocker .. #INDvsENG

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) February 23, 2024

In the center, of these two posts Vaughan lauded Joe Root for shunning the aggressive ‘Bazball strategy’ and scoring a ton. “Lovely to see Common sense Ball .. #INDvsENG,” he wrote.

Lovely to see Common sense Ball .. #INDvsENG

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) February 23, 2024

Clearly, the best way England batter Root handled the Indian bowling and the pitch made Vaughan change his opinion. 

In their reply, India misplaced skipper Rohit Sharma (2) cheaply to be 34 for one at lunch, trailing England by 319 runs. Veteran James Anderson noticed the again of Rohit with a supply that moved away barely off the floor after pitching on an ideal size, taking edge from Indian captain’s bat that was taken by Ben Foakes.

Yashasvi Jaiswal (27 batting) was his normal assured self and giving him firm was Shubman Gill (4) on the break.

England added 51 helpful runs to their in a single day complete of 302/7 because the Indian assault didn’t make early penetration. The final 5 England batters added 241 runs after being 112/5 at lunch on the opening day.

While Mohammed Siraj (2/78) erred in his line and size, debutant Akash Deep couldn’t add to his tally of three wickets to return with 3/38 from 19 overs.

For India, Ravindra Jadeja took all of the three wickets to return with 4/67 from his 32.5 overs.

Root, who dug in deep together with his classical century spanning somewhat greater than six hours, remained stranded on 122 from 274 balls (10×4).

With PTI inputs