Fascinating Test Match at Ranchi: An English Observer’s Daily Reviews – By Michael Roberts
Source : thuppahis
Daniel Byrne, … in special reports for the Guy From Galle … incomplete, alas because of computer problems
DAY ONE in RANCHI: Root’s patient century shows there is a way to succeed in India without risking throwing your wicket away
Two days before the start of the Ranchi Test players and journalists alike questioned the number of cracks already visible on the batting surface. With Jasprit Bumrah rested for the fourth Test many were suspicious that a spin friendly surface would produce a fast-moving contest likely to last only three days or four at most. The England side was revealed a day early as is the way with Stokes and McCullum allowing adequate time for the players to mentally prepare for the challenges ahead. Bairstow retained his place in the batting line up while Bashir took over from Rehan Ahmed as the second spinner. Robinson was selected instead of Wood and Anderson was promoted to bat at Number 10.
List of international cricket grounds in India – Wikipedia
The cheers from the huddle of Indian players one hour before the start of play confirmed Akash Deep’s selection with the presentation of his cap. The view from my seat at the Northern End of the ground was perfect although the shade offered from the MS Dhoni Pavilion at the opposite end would have been preferred had tickets been available for general sale. Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bat, about as difficult a decision as the one I made the previous evening when asked if I wanted a cold beer. As the rest of the England players trudged off the field to put on their whites, Anderson and Robinson made sure they were comfortable with running in from the Southern End as if anticipating the need to be ready to bowl sooner rather than later.
Akash Deep for Bumrah was confirmed as the only change to the Indian eleven. Siraj opened from the Southern End to Crawley with a lively maiden. Akash Deep immediately found a good line and length bowling from the Northern End. His tenth delivery knocked Crawley’s off stump clean out of the ground, the best sound a bowler can ever wish to hear. It was quickly followed by the worst when the siren alerted the umpire to the no-ball. The first 6 overs went for only 19 runs and the future of Bazball was in doubt until Crawley hit 4, 4, 4, 6 from the last four deliveries to Siraj’s fourth over. Jadeja replaced Siraj and Duckett survived a close lbw shout.
The Indian captain gave Akash another over and was rewarded when Duckett was caught behind pushing at a ball outside off stump (47 – 1). Pope was lbw to his second delivery after an Indian review trying to hit a straight ball through the leg side and missing (47 – 2). It was very poor umpiring by Rod Tucker as not only did he get the decision wrong, but he also signaled four leg byes before the 15 seconds were up allowing Rohit more information than should be available when considering a review. Root survived a huge lbw appeal to his first delivery by just getting his knee outside the line of off stump before the impact with the ball. It was quite an over from Akash and one he will surely remember for a very long time. Rohit Sharma kept him on as a result and Crawley was bowled off his pads to give the debutant figures of 6 – 0 – 20 – 3.
Bairstow walked to the crease with England in trouble on 57–3. Siraj replaced Akash and Bairstow hit two glorious drives to the boundary to help restore his flailing confidence. Ashwin quickly replaced Siraj and with Jadeja introduced from the Southern End we had spin at both ends after 20 overs. Bairstow hit Ashwin for a six over deep mid-wicket and things were looking good for the visitors until Bairstow was adjudged lbw sweeping in front of the stumps again following a successful Indian review (109 – 4). At least on this occasion he had contributed 38 runs.
With the on-field umpires having nightmare performances the third umpire soon joined in by seeing an inside edge from Root that was the bat hitting the pad. England’s best batsman should have been out before lunch. He survived, but his captain departed from the last ball before lunch when a delivery from Jadeja failed to bounce and hit him on the back leg in front of middle stump. Stokes just turned around and walked off knowing full well he was out. Perhaps he should have waited as the three umpires might have contrived a means of getting the decision wrong again. Lunch was taken with the score 112 – 5 from 24.1 overs.
The relatively expensive seats turned out to be quite a rip-off in some respects. There was no complimentary lunch which most of us purchasing the tickets had assumed would be available. The plastic seats were filthy and the queues for food at the various outlets on the ground floor were horrendous. The only items we managed to purchase successfully were melting ice-creams. Drinking water was available in little paper cups that held maybe 50–75 ml and the large container supplying it emptied just as Keith and I reached the front of the queue. However, the toilets were impressively clean, and the locals were really, really friendly and with the Chairman and Deckchair sneaking into our Stand during the interval, it can’t have been that bad when put into perspective.
Jadeja and Ashwin continued bowling after the interval and Root and Foakes nudged and nurdled singles and twos to keep the scoreboard ticking over. A cut to the vacant third man boundary from Root off Akash brought up the 50 partnership and the batsmen were looking comfortable. Ridiculous shots were banished, and good old fashioned traditional cricket shots were reinvented for an hour at least. I met an Indian supporter I had watched a Test with previously in Delhi seven years’ ago who only arrived in Ranchi yesterday evening. He explained how he had spent the entire morning session in a queue to turn his on-line tickets into paper versions before being allowed entry to a ground that was possibly less than 10 per cent full.
Ashwin replaced Akash at the Southern End and Root brought up his half century off 108 balls. At Tea the score was 198–5 with 86 runs added in the session from an incredible 36.5 overs. After the interval Foakes hit Ashwin over the mid-wicket fence to complete the 100 partnership with 16 coming off the over. Siraj was brought on from the Northern End just as the sun mercifully disappeared behind a cloud. Foakes hit a powerful drive from Siraj straight to Jadeja at short mid-wicket ( 225 – 6 ). The wicketkeeper had made a very valuable contribution of 47 in a partnership worth 113 runs.
Root was on 75 at this stage still without playing a reverse sweep, a dilscoop, a backward bucket shot or anything other than conventional cricket shots. The scoreboard on the replay screens appeared for a full five seconds in a format where you could read it and showed Root to be on 76 from 181 deliveries. I suspect the next opportunity I will have to be able to consult the scoreboard will be just before lunch tomorrow morning. You really wouldn’t want clear information about the state of the match to interfere with the advertisements for local cement companies.
Hartley hit Ashwin over cow corner for a six and was lbw to the next delivery. The umpire’s decision was over-ruled on review as the replay showed a clear inside edge. It’s hard to remember a day at a Test where the umpires have got so many decisions wrong. My memory suggests a Test in Sri Lanka around 20 years ago where Asoka ( Shocker ) de Silva was officiating could be a candidate. Siraj bowled Hartley playing down the wrong line and thankfully no decision was required ( 245 – 7 ). Robinson smashed an unintended beamer from Jadeja to the mid-wicket fence to bring up the England 250, a score few would have expected to see given the situation at lunch.
The sun was partially hidden by clouds and the temperature was perfect for watching cricket, at least as far as I am concerned. India had burned all their reviews at this stage and when Jadeja went apoplectic in his attempt to get an lbw decision the umpire had no alternative but to speak with Rohit Sharma about unnecessary running on the wicket. Robinson was actually plumb lbw but this was a day when wicket taking was a lottery and the umpiring was as poor as I have ever seen. Root completed a remarkable century from 219 balls with only one reverse sweep that I can remember. It was nice to see sporting applause offered from Shubman Gill and Rajat Patidar among others, not something normally seen when Virat Kohli was in charge. It’s hard to categorise the importance of this century relative to others by Root until we see how India bat on this wicket, but my suspicion is that it will be ranked up there along with some of his best.
Robinson came in and looked very comfortable at the crease. Kuldeep was hit for a huge six over cow corner with only three overs left in the day. Robinson and Root completed a 50 partnership before Jaiswal was brought on to bowl the last over of the day. Asked what he bowled by the chap beside me I replied “right arm leg spin filth” by the look of the first ball. It was an interesting over. Two deliveries pitched perfectly and spun alarmingly. Another was a long hop that Robinson smashed to the mid-wicket boundary to bring up the England 300. The players eventually walked off the field at the scheduled time for the close of play at 4.30 pm with the score 302 – 7 from 90 overs. In the final two sessions England had added 190 -2 having been five wickets down. The taxi driver was waiting for us by the lamp post we had identified, and we trundled off to find our way back to the Cradle Residency Hotel. Days at the cricket in India do not get much better than this. Our hosts arranged for the motor-bike delivery of very cold Kingfisher beers.
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DAY THREE
If there is a way to lose a 5-day Test match in half an hour England will find it and execute it to perfection; Day three in Ranchi.
The view from the sixth floor of the Northern End was a huge disappointment compared with the President’s Enclosure on the fourth floor. The steps between the rows of seats were too steep to climb up and down safely with no handrails available to offer support. To get a coffee you had to climb to the top of the Stand and after that it was impossible to take it anywhere near to your seat without spilling most of it. The only possible improvement from the previous day was the choice of crisps had increased with magic masala being promoted as an alternative to sour cream and onion.
Bashir and Robinson opened the bowling on the third morning and Kuldeep and Jurel were content to score in singles. The 50 partnership was brought up from a Robinson no-ball, one of several sent down in the first half an hour. The new ball was taken in the 81st over and Jurel immediately took some of the shine off it with a powerful straight drive to the boundary. Bashir continued from the Southern End and Jurel cut another boundary to the backward point fence. Anderson replaced Robinson and Hartley was given a bowl at the other end. The batsmen looked to be in no difficulty at all until Kuldeep chopped a delivery from Anderson on to his own stumps ( 253 – 8 ). Kuldeep had contributed 28 valuable runs from 131 balls and the overall England lead was exactly 100 at this stage.
Jurel completed his half century from 96 balls and Bashir replaced Anderson. Jurel hit Bashir for a huge straight six and followed up with a four hit to the same part of the ground. Five minutes later Jurel hit Bashir over long-on for another enormous six. The partnership was already worth 34 and Jurel had scored 31 of the runs. Things were not going the way the England management had hoped for. In his next over Akash hit Bashir for another six, but fortunately for the bowler Akash was given out lbw five deliveries later. Bashir had 5 wickets in the innings and was warmly congratulated by all his teammates, never mind the recent flurry of sixes ( 293 – 9 ). Jurel hit Hartley to the fence a couple of times to take his score to 90 before he was bowled by the left-arm spinner in the last over before Lunch. India was all put for 307 from 103.2 overs giving England a first innings lead of 46. Bashir finished with figures of 44 – 8 – 119 – 5.
I’ve been very critical of the umpires in this match, but to be fair to Rod Tucker he has stopped a lot of unnecessary time wasting by preventing regular glove changes and other such nonsense to such an extent that England managed to bowl 30.2 overs in the session with 10 of them coming from the fast bowlers. There was absolutely nothing to do during the interval with 16 flights of stairs to negotiate to find very long queues for the two food outlets covering the entire northern end of the ground.
Ashwin and Jadeja opened the bowling for India in the England second innings and Duckett’s first scoring shot was a scoop over his head to the fine leg boundary. His second boundary was from a reverse sweep to Ashwin. The episode of sensible batting that had occurred in the first innings had obviously been consigned to the dustbin. Duckett was soon out pushing hard at a delivery from Ashwin and offering a regulation catch to Sarfraz at forward short leg ( 19 – 1 ). Pope was lbw to his first delivery appearing to play for spin that simply wasn’t there. His contribution with the bat in this match amounts to 0 runs from three balls faced. He will not be telling his grandchildren lots of wonderful stories about his time in Ranchi in 2024 ( 19 – 2 ).
Crawley hit three boundaries to the long-off fence from an Ashwin over and the England 50 came up from 11.1 overs. Siraj replaced Jadeja before the start of the 16th over just as the scoreboard appeared in a readable format for five seconds for the second time in the match. Root was given out lbw to a ball that kept low following an Indian review that once again overturned umpire Dharmasena’s original decision ( 65 – 3 ). Bairstow immediately started hitting boundaries off Siraj and Ashwin. Jadeja replaced Siraj and Bairstow suddenly looked far less comfortable. Crawley reached 50 from 71 balls and Kuldeep replaced Ashwin after a 12 over spell that produced figures of 3 – 48. The England 100 came up from 25.2 overs and Crawley was bowled by Kuldeep with a delivery that turned sharply from outside off stump to hit middle. He had made a useful 60 from 91 balls ( 110 – 4 ).
Stokes survived a close India review for lbw against Jadeja which once again went with “umpire’s call”. Jadeja was very close to bowling Bairstow with a ball that went straight on rather than turn sharply like all the other deliveries in the over. The batsmen were being mesmerised by the bowling from both ends. It was a gripping contest to observe with the England lead only 166. Stokes was almost bowled by a long hop from Kuldeep that stayed extremely low. He was then bowled off his pads by the same bowler in the next over ( 120 – 5 ). Tea was taken an over later with no addition to the score.
Disaster struck for England with the first ball after the break when Bairstow pushed at a delivery from Jadeja that spun sharply and ended up in Patidar’s hands between gully and point (120 – 6 ). It was still very warm inside the stadium, but several Indian supporters were wearing jumpers and jackets. The authorities finally relented on the prevention of bringing food to your seats from the downstairs caterers and I looked on enviously at people tucking into samosas and other Indian delights. It was just a pity 16 flights of stairs would need to be negotiated in both directions to hopefully find the samosas hadn’t just sold out.
Run scoring had almost dried up until Hartley hit Jadeja over cow corner for a huge six. Unfortunately for England he was brilliantly caught by Sarfraz diving forward at deepish mid-on to give Kuldeep another wicket ( 133 – 7 ). The lead was now 179. Robinson, having played so sensibly in the first innings attempted a reverse sweep to his first ball and was given out lbw by umpire Dharmasena. Naturally the batsman called for a review and the umpire had missed the ball coming off the face of the glove and not the pad. Clearly umpire Dharmasena’s new prescription from the optician’s needed to be re-evaluated. Two balls later Robinson was given out lbw again and this time the decision was upheld by “umpire’s call” ( 133 – 8 ). England had managed to lose 5 wickets for 23 runs turning a potential winning position into a likely defeat in the space of half an hour.
With Bashir as his batting partner, Foakes took a single off the fourth delivery to each of the next six overs, before Ashwin replaced Jadeja at the Southern End. Foakes continued with the same strategy for the next four overs with Bashir defending two balls of every over admirably. At this rate England might reach a defendable total by lunch time on Tuesday. Ashwin consulted with his captain and placed 7 men on the leg side to tempt Foakes into trying a reverse sweep towards the covers. The plan worked perfectly. Foakes went after the first delivery and was given out lbw. He immediately appealed and Rod Tucker had missed an inside edge. The optician’s assessment centre is going to be busy again this evening.
Foakes was eventually deceived by Ashwin’s slower ball and the attempted shot to leg came off a leading edge straight back to the bowler ( 149 – 9 ). Anderson wasted no time before attempting a reverse sweep and was caught behind. England was all out for 145 from 53.5 overs. The last 8 wickets had fallen for only 35 runs. Ashwin returned figures of 5 – 51. The Indian opening batsmen walked to the crease with 25 minutes of play remaining in the day and a modest target of 192 to be achieved with two full days still available. Root opened the bowling from the Northern End and conceded 4 runs in the over. Hartley opened from the other end and Rohit hit two delightful boundaries to the mid-wicket fence all along the ground. Jaiswal didn’t worry too much about playing defensive shots and the score after 3 overs was 20 – 0. Hartley had a close lbw shout against Rohit turned down and the next delivery was inevitably hit for four. Rohit completed 1,000 Test runs against England when his score reached 11.
The Indian batsmen were making the run chase look like a stroll in the park. The score was 37 – 0 after 6 overs. Bashir replaced Root to allow the former England captain to switch ends. Jaiswal kept out a grubber from Root in the final over of the day and at stumps India was 40 – 0 from 8 overs requiring a further 152 runs for victory. Lots of teams have bad days playing Tests in India. In England’s case they appear to have good days and terrible days, and this unfortunately falls very much under the latter category.
