England's ongoing tour of India enters its next chapter at the Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) Stadium in Ranchi, venue for the fourth Test starting Friday. The series has been a riveting one with England stunning the hosts by winning the first Test in Hyderabad and India then bouncing back in the second and third matches. While England were lauded for the fight they put up in the second Test, their utter capitulation to a record defeat in the third led to their batters copping criticism.
As has been the case thus far this series, the JSCA Stadium is new to Test cricket, with only two matches being played at the ground in the past. The first international match overall to be played at the venue was an ODI between India and England in January 2013. Since then, the stadium has hosted a total of six ODI matches, four T20Is and two Tests.
The first Test match to be played in Ranchi was the third of a thrilling four-match series between India and Australia in 2017. Steve Smith was batting like a dream and scored the second of the three centuries he made in that series. He finished unbeaten on 178 as Australia batted first and scored 451. It was also the match in which Glenn Maxwell showed his potential as a Test player for Australia, scoring 104 off 185 in a 191-run partnership with Smith. India responded by piling on 603 runs for nine wickets before captain Virat Kohli declared.
Cheteshwar Pujara scored 202 in 525 balls, making it the longest innings ever by an Indian in terms of balls faced. He had two century stands, one with opener Murali Vijay, who scored 82 in 183 balls, and then with wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha who made 117 in 233. Australia then managed to fight out a draw, with Shaun Marsh and Peter Handscomb blocking out a whopping 374 balls for 124 runs for the fifth wicket.
{{/usCountry}}Cheteshwar Pujara scored 202 in 525 balls, making it the longest innings ever by an Indian in terms of balls faced. He had two century stands, one with opener Murali Vijay, who scored 82 in 183 balls, and then with wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha who made 117 in 233. Australia then managed to fight out a draw, with Shaun Marsh and Peter Handscomb blocking out a whopping 374 balls for 124 runs for the fifth wicket.
{{/usCountry}}If the first Test to be platyed in Ranchi was a hard-nosed Test match between two well-matched teams, the second was anything but that. India had alread won the 2019 series against South Africa 2-0 and, as had been the case in those two matches, the visitors were swatted aside in the third as well. Rohit Sharma continued to make merry in his first series as an opener in the Indian Test team, smashing 212 in 255 balls as India batted first and declared on 497/9. Ajinkya Rahane also scored a century, making 115 off 192 balls as part of a 267-run partnership with Rohit for the fourth wicket. South Africa were unable to put up any kind of a challenge being dismissed for 162 in their first innings and then for 133 following on.