India Vs England 4th Test - Series Win
Ranchi's pitch has again come under scrutiny. This time around, some say it's like a dry river bed!. Two other test matches have been played with India winning over SA and the other test drawn with Australia. Did BAZBALL help England?
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Is it the Pitch or Players Who Influence the outcome of the match?
Image Credit: Microsoft Image Designer
Updated: 27 Feb 2024
Joe Root - A masterclass innings at Ranchi
The past few days have been a roller coaster of a ride at Ranchi, with both teams struggling with the bat and struggling to reach a 300-plus total. Joe Root played an incredible knock, watchful, full of patience, and ultimately was the bridge at one end, forming partnerships with his teammates to help England get into a strong position of 353 runs. He did not play the exhilarating style of cricket, which we all know as BAZBALL. Would England and Root have persevered had he chosen to play the BAZBALL approach? Well, we will never know. Will he continue to play judiciously or embrace the team attitude? Eventually, Root must have been relieved to have come out of his bad form to remain not out with a classic 122 runs. What's more, Foakes and Robinson contributed valuable 105 runs, though not in an aggressive frame of mind. Akash Deep had a dream debut, taking 3 wickets for 83 runs, causing England's collapse. Surprisingly, 5 wickets went to the pace attack and the other 5 went to the Indian spinners. An even split.
BAZBALL
Is BAZBALL the right approach in any situation? While BAZBALL is entertaining, it's like bringing an ODI approach to a game, that's played over 5 days. It would make sense not to blindly follow this approach, but also to play wisely, adapting to the situation. The smart approach of adapting to circumstances, playing wisely, and choosing the aggressive technique without abandoning caution will ultimately lead to competitive and exciting duels. Thousands of spectators and supporters will appreciate this commonsensical approach and be satisfied should the results go either way. They can make peace and yet hold their head high and say, "We fought & Lost. The better team won!", in the event their team lost.
RANCHI'S PITCH
India struggled on day 2, losing early wickets and stuttering to 177 for 7 with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel, the only batters who stood fast and played a wonderful innings to bring India close to England's total. Debutant's, huh, coming to India's rescue. Between them, they have a total of 9 International test cricket experience. Useful contributions from Gill and Kuldeep helped bridge the gap between the two team totals. The rest of the Indian batting line-up could not get going. England's pair of spinners Bashir and Hartley together bowled well to take 8 of the Indian wickets, while Anderson picked up a couple.
The pitch looked like a dry river bed. It could also be likened to a relatively flat area of drought land with cracks in them, aiding any bowler who could land the ball accurately. Balls kept low, making scoring an extremely difficult task. England found out the difficult way when they collapsed to 145 all out with the bulk of their wickets in Ashwin's and Kuldeep's bags. England's collapse smashed whatever advantage they had.
Backing the Ranchi pitch curators, Vikram Rathour, India's batting coach, stated that this was a typical Indian wicket, saying that it will turn and that it will be difficult to say how much.
It will always be a challenge to visiting teams, especially those from the SENA countries. They have to learn to adapt and familiarize themselves to bat on spinning and flat surfaces. After all, cricket is not always played on bouncy, hard, and fast-paced pitches. They have been so used to playing on their tracks, that they find it difficult to play on Indian pitches.
In recent years, teams from SENA have played well in India. This year, England's team resisted, fought well, and kept the series entertaining by counterattacking, keeping the pressure on the Indian side. Their spinners have done well to surprise India and utilize the conditions effectively.
Over time, efforts from visiting teams will help them become better at playing in Indian conditions and reduce the advantage the Indian team has while playing at home. It could be decades before their spinners can reach the levels of expertise, skills, and tweaking wisdom that we have developed and practiced over the years.
So, until then, we will always have an advantage. But, for how long? If this series is any indication, we can expect teams from SENA to put up a fight when they bat on our grounds.
All said and done. India was expected to win the match and the series on Day 4 and they won, albeit, losing 5 wickets. At one time, with the loss of two quick wickets, it looked like England had a chance. Gill & Jurel played calmly and led India to an incredible 5-wicket victory and a series win. They are the future of Indian cricket. The seniors could not have asked for more.
The final test Match At Dharmasala
One more test match to go at Dharmasala on the 7th of March. Probably, the most beautiful ground in India, helpful for the pace bowlers in the initial days and spinners as the ball gets old. It's a balanced pitch, aiding the batters too. An exciting and evenly fought contest can be expected.
Interestingly, Dharmasala hosted only one test match between India and Australia in 2017. The rest of the matches held were ODI's and T20's.
Due to mismanagement in the stadium preparation in 2023, BCCI's inspection team moved the 3rd test match between India and Australia to Indore.
Until then, we wait and see if England plans to go by way of the BAZBALL route.