India National Cricket Team and England National Cricket Team are squaring off with each other in the fourth match of the five-match Test series currently. Jharkhand Cricket Association Complex in Ranchi is hosting the game, which commenced on Friday (23rd February).
If it was England who dominated the first two days of the match, India staged a dominant comeback on Day 3 and tilted the game in their favor. At the stumps on Day 2, it seemed that visitors would seal the game comfortably but things have changed drastically now.
If we go by the way how things have played so far in the series it won’t be a surprise if the game produces another twist in the tale on Day 4. The game still is alive and kicking and one thing is sure it will be an exciting finish to the game, which is a virtual series decider.
The Day 3 of the game kickstarted with Dhruv Jurel (90) and Kuldeep Yadav (28) continuing from where they left off on Day 2. The duo batted well and added 76 runs for the 8th wicket. Their stand ensured that India got some momentum and got close to England’s total.
India’s innings ended on 307, 46 runs behind England’s total. Shoaib Bashir was the pick of the bowlers with his figures of 5/119. With a lead of 46 runs in the bank, it was expected that the visitors would come up with an attacking mindset and set a big target for the team to chase.
However, that wasn’t the case as Indian spinners were all over the England batters. Ravichandran Ashwin claimed 5 wickets whereas Kuldeep Yadav picked 4 wickets as India bundled out the opposition for just 145 runs, setting themselves a target of 192 runs to chase. Zak Crawley (60) was the only settled batter as he slammed a brutal fifty.
In the chase, India skipper Rohit Sharma (24*) along with Yashasvi Jaiswal (16*) came out with positive intent and made sure that bowlers didn’t settle at all. They added an unbeaten 40-run stand and made sure their team ended the day on high. At stumps, the hosts were 152 runs away from the win.
IND vs ENG: Pitch Report and Weather Report for Day 4
Speaking after the end of Day 3 of the Ranchi Test, Ravichandran Ashwin provided an update about the pitch. He believes that the bounce of the pitch was very low and then the surface offered spin as well later on. Speaking to broadcasters, he explained:
“I find that there is not enough bite out of the surface. The bounce is literally around shin height if I can say that, so had to bowl a lot of side spin, had to hammer into the pitch for the first part of the spell and later from the other side I felt there was a little bit more purchase. Had to literally rewire and it’s a mental switch I had to make.”
Ravichandran Ashwin’s words could well be an indication that the pitch will have very little bounce on Day 4 and there might be a sharp turn as well. The batting won’t be easy and Indian batters would be aware of that fact.
Talking about the weather in Ranchi, Day 4 of the game is expected to see a cloud cover after 1 PM. The chances of rain are less with precipitation expected to be 0%. The temperature is expected to be around 26° and the humidity will be around 60% during the day.
