Shubman Gill and Dhruv Jurel added 72 runs for the sixth wicket to take India to victory in the fourth Test. Naman Agarwal, at the venue, details how the two youngsters conquered the tough Ranchi surface with contrasting methods.
When Shubman Gill and Dhruv Jurel, with a combined age just six years more than James Anderson’s, came together on the fourth afternoon at Ranchi, India’s hopes had started to dwindle, and for good reason. While victory was only another 72 runs away, they had to deal with a pitch that had proved vexing for both sides throughout.
In a sport that has been around for almost two centuries, no one has ever solved the puzzle of reading a cricket pitch. And this surface takes that challenge to a new level. Before the match, the crack was the subject of much speculation, with Ollie Pope speaking of a “plate-like” crack and Ben Stokes saying he had “never seen anything like it before”. When Stokes was sent off on the first morning after taking a shot across the ground, Michael Vaughan described the pitch as “shocking”. After India’s middle order collapsed on the second day, India’s bowling coach Paras Mambray said, “On the second day itself, we did not expect them to bowl so low.”
But it was more than just a minefield. After Stokes scored, Joe Root and Ben Foakes had a wicketless session, with the former reaching his century. Jurrell’s save on the third morning and R Ashwin’s fifth goal a few hours later gave India a little more insight into the state of the pitch. Jurrell felt that the lack of bounce prevented him from scoring runs in front of the wicket, while Ashwin had to “use a lot of sidespin” to adapt to the bounce “almost at shin height”. there were. /p>
In three and a half days, the surface texture of Ranchi has changed more than the definition of Bazball has changed in almost two years. And the fourth day, after lunch, was probably the spiciest.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma gave India more confidence than before with an early attacking partnership of 84. Jaiswal was dismissed in the 18th over and India’s scoring stopped. Shoaib Bashir, Tom Hartley and Joe Root hit extra-base hits and let the natural changes in the pitch do the rest. India fell from her 84-0 to his 120-5.
At this point, Gil was already at a dead end. He only scored 19 points on 65 pitches. His relentless blocking and kicking from spinners was unpleasant to watch. But they kept England at bay.
The usual antidote to being low to the ground is to move your front feet as far apart as possible. Gil was exactly right. He took a big step forward as usual and pushed his ball hard. He continued down the track until he reached the ball field and slammed the top into the ground.
Gill was committed to his front-foot game during India’s run-chase. (Photo by TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP via Getty Images)
As captain, Stokes was active in making field changes whenever possible. After almost every ball, field players moved from one point to another. With less scoring at his disposal, Stokes had to find a compromise between attack and defense, so England only had two catcher fielders near the bat at a time. That worked to Gil’s advantage.
In the bottom of the second innings of the Hyderabad Test, Gill’s typical tough front-foot defense foolishly played into the hands of Ollie Pope. There was no one watching over him, so Gil could move forward easily. There were plays, mistakes, “oohs” and “ahs”, but Gill mostly covered the ball line.
On the other hand, Jurel had just saved the first time and had his own method. Unlike Gil, he let the ball come to him. Playing from the goal crease is not usually the recommended method when playing spin on a degraded surface that remains low on the fourth day. However, Jurel had already shown that his own skills and temperament were anything but ordinary.
Jurel avoided committing to the front foot during India’s chase in Ranchi. (Photo by TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP via Getty Images)
The ability to read pitches as quickly as a fraction of a second is what separates the good hitters from the best. Jurrell’s handling of the long balls thrown by Bashir and Hartley showed that he can read the ball by staying in the goal area, concentrating on his back foot as much as possible, and moving forward or stepping out of the lane at the first sign of escape. Ta. hand. Keeping wickets for two innings must have helped in that regard.
The in-out pitches didn’t give either batsman many boundary opportunities. Jurrell attempted an air raid early in the inning against Hartley but was unable to do so. He got an outside edge that landed just in front of third man. After that, both batsmen avoided attacking options. Over his next hour, punches, drives, late cuts with soft hands, and nudges during turns became standard shots.
Gill only started when victory was in sight. Needing 20 more innings, he stepped up and hit Bashir for 26 hits on three pitches, reaching 50 innings for the third consecutive year in the series. Jurrell then spread his arms and pulled Hartley between midwicket and mid-on, making it four for four. These were the last limits the batsmen reached until Jurrell guided India to victory with a gentle flick to the back of the pitch. In a way, this was a defining characteristic of how both men met the challenges posed by Ranchi’s road surface. Gil primarily tried to score with his front foot, and Jurrell responded to the advantage of the ball.
Reading pitches is a skill that can never be mastered. Gil and Jurrell could make a lot of bad decisions as their careers progress. But today at lunch they proved that as long as the fundamentals are strong, there is no right way to adapt to the pitch, only your own way.
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