England’s number 3 batsman Ollie Pope, whose individual brilliance saw him score 196 in the third innings of the first Test which the visitors eventually won by 28 runs in Hyderabad, has given his honest comments on the surface of the JSCA Stadium in Ranchi , which hosts the IV Test between both sides, from February 23 onwards.
England are currently trailing 2-1 and will come into the Test match having lost the previous one by a margin of 434 runs at Rajkot’s Niranjan Shah Stadium. Ollie Pope, among other England batsmen, failed to show Bazball’s exciting style of play when it mattered most and when they needed to chase 557 in 2 and a half days to win.
“Interesting launch”: First shot of Pope on the surface of Ranchi
Both India and England have started their practice in Ranchi for the fourth Test and have also checked the pitch to assume how it will behave as the match begins and nears its end. Pope commented that the surface is quite interesting after his first look at the field, stating that it will not be a belt with a crunchy top and stating that one side is good but the other is not.
“It is an interesting launch. It won’t necessarily be a huge success. There are some cracks, very silvery and it was also wet when we checked it. “It would dry out if you left it in the sun, it looked a little crunchy, the top layer, half is good and the other half has a lot of plate-like cracks.” – Ollie Pope told reporters in Ranchi.
Pope feels that it will be a big draw to win for either side as the teams that bat first might have a slight advantage as seen earlier in the first 3 test matches where the teams that batted first ultimately emerged winners. The right-hand batsman also revealed that there is a poor patch at both ends, including off-stump, and it could help the cause of spinners like Ravi Ashwin, Jadeja, Tom Hartley, Rehan Ahmed and Kuldeep Yadav, among others.
Ollie Pope also warned his teammates about the lengths Indian spinners could choose. “Right now, from the other end, there is a rough outside the right-hander’s off-stump, and from this end, outside the left-hander’s off-stump. You need to be aware of the lengths they would go to.” – added the Pope.
“We’ll probably have to wait and see,” Ollie Pope concludes on Ranchi speech
Before leaving the press room, Ollie Pope expected the curators to leave a uniform amount of grass on the field, but he knew there was very little chance of that happening as the field was watered at the time he checked. His assumption turned into a bigger belief after knowing that Jasprit Bumrah will not appear in the fourth Test, so there will be no trace of weed at all.
“If they want to leave some grass on it or shave it. There’s a good chance they’ll do that (remove the grass), especially since they’ve watered it. Without Jasprit, they could continue that path. “I’ll probably have to wait and see.” – concluded the Pope.