Paras Mhambrey, the Indian bowling coach said on Saturday that the Ranchi pitch did not behave according to the team’s expectations. After the second day’s play in the fourth Test match between India and England, the hosts scored 219/7 in response to England’s first innings total of 353.

Mhambrey on Ranchi Pitch

After Stumps on Day 2, Mhambrey spoke about the conditions in the press conference. “From what we have seen out here, generally, the nature of the pitch is that it gets slower as the game progresses. We expected that. But, to be honest, we didn’t expect it to play that low on the second day itself.” He added,  “A couple of balls did keep low in the first innings itself. We expected it to get slower. But we were not expecting the variable bounce.”

He explained how variable bounce was experienced on the track. He also added that the management did not give any specific instructions to the curator regarding the pitch. “There was variable bounce. But I don’t think there were too many that spun sharply from the wicket. It was the variable bounce, on the lower side, which has made batting difficult. That is the nature of the soil. There were no specific instructions from us [to the curator] that we wanted to play on a rank turner.”

Mhambrey credited Bashir and Hartley

He also mentioned the duo of Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley. Bashir and Hartley took a total of six Indian wickets out of seven that fell today. “I think they bowled well. (They) kept a simple line and length. At this level, you expect your opposition to do that. They kept it simple and picked up wickets for that.”

While speaking of India’s batting performance he said, “What is important is that we have two set batsmen [Dhruv Jurel and Kuldeep Yadav] at the crease. We have a 40+ partnership going. I think they have really applied themselves. The important thing is we get as close as possible to the English total and then we will see tomorrow.”

According to the bowling coach, the hosts have to bat well in the second innings whatever the target is. He also mentioned that the venue conditions cannot be controlled. “What we need to look at is, that we are going to chase. The target will differ but mentally we will have to be ready to chase. We have to bat well in the second innings, whatever the target is. Let’s keep it that simple,” added Mhambrey.