It seems former England captain Nasser Hussain's pre-series prediction has come true, even though it took almost four matches. Before the series, Nasser warned India against preparing rank turners to avoid letting England spinners come into the game. It felt like the curators and the team management almost adhered to the directions quite diligently. However, Nasser's prediction was proven right as England spinners were all over the Indian batters on a deteriorating Ranchi surface.
While Michael Vaughan thanked India for preparing such a surface, former England pacer Stuart Broad was puzzled as to why the hosts decided to make such a team which led the visiting spinners having a say.
"I mainly tweet about England- but looking at India. They’re an amazing team on flat Test pitches in India where their spinners' skill comes into it & they out bowl other teams. Playing on pitches that roll along the floor brings in the opposition so much more. I can’t understand why they’ve prepared a pitch like this?," Broad said in one of the few tweets he did regarding the game on Saturday, February 24. The former pacer was also not sure why India decided to rest their ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah with the series still on the line.
"India have completely brought England into the game preparing a pitch like this … much appreciated," Vaughan wrote.
England rode on Joe Root's 31st Test century to post a strong score of 353 runs, which is looking almost 100 above par currently with the way how India have batted in their first innings. India are already seven wickets down with Shoaib Bashir getting a career-best four wickets and are still 134 runs behind. Yashasvi Jaiswal's terrific form helped India show some respectability as he smashed 73, otherwise the situation could have been worse for the hosts.
