The suspense around the 22-yard strip at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi is deepening as we move closer to the start of the fourth Test between India and England.
The five-match series has witnessed three evenly-matched decks thus far and hence there is a sense of anticipation that there could be something similar on offer for the players for the 4th Test.
However, as per Ben Stokes, the wicket in Ranchi has a very un-Indian look to it and something that he hasn't seen before.
"I don't know, I've never seen something like that before so I have got no idea. I don't know what could happen," Stokes was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
"If you looked down one side of opposite ends it just looked different to what I am used to seeing, especially out in India. It looked green and grassy up in the changing rooms, but then you go out there, it looked different. Very dark and crumbly and quite a few cracks in it," he added.
On the other hand, the vice-captain of the side, Ollie Pope, noted that one-half of the wicket has a lot of rough outside the "right-hander's off stump" and it might bring India's premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin into play.
"It kind of looks like one half is good and then there's a lot of platey cracks at the other," Pope noted. "At the minute, it looks like batting from the far end, there's rough outside the right-hander's off-stump. For example, Ashwin's going to bowl from that end from over-the-wicket because he might want to bowl it into the rough," Pope was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
"And from this end, it's outside the left-hander's off-stump," the batter added. "That's how we see it at the minute. I think we will see what happens tomorrow after the Indian team has looked at the wicket, then make a decision from there," he added.
