IND vs ENG, 4th Test: Mhambrey surprised with variable bounce as India left tottering after second day

Paras Mhambrey, India’s bowling coach, also stepped away from terming the pitch a rank turner, adding that the team management never asked for such a surface.

India, starting its first innings on Friday, lost six wickets in the last two sessions of the second day, still trailing by 134 runs at Stumps. | Photo Credit: K.R Deepak / The Hindu

Indian bowling coach Paras Mhambrey said on Saturday that the Ranchi pitch has behaved contrary to the team’s expectations after the home side stuttered to 219 for seven in response to England’s first-innings total of 353 in the fourth Test between the two sides.

“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,” said Mhambrey after Stumps on Day 2.

“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 also stepped away from terming the pitch a rank turner, adding that the team management never asked for such a surface.

“Firstly, the venue is not something that we can control. The way the [Ranchi] pitch plays has always been similar here. It has never been a rank-turner and I would not call this one.

“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,” he added.

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Mhambrey also credited the English spinners – Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley – for keeping it simple.

The pair accounted for six of the seven Indian wickets to fall 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.”

Mhambrey refused to look too far ahead into the game, with India facing the prospect of batting last on a rapidly crumbling pitch.

“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.

“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.