'Never seen something like that': Ben Stokes stunned by Ranchi pitch before India vs England 4th Test

Ahead of the fourth and penultimate Test versus India, England captain Ben Stokes has been left stunned with thepitch for the Ranchi Test. The match gets underway on Friday (Feb 23) at the JSCA Stadium in Ranchi and Stokes claimed that he has 'never seen something like this before' while talking about the pitch on offer.

On the eve of the fourth Test, Stokes told BBC Sport, "I've never seen something like that before. I have got no idea so I don't know what could happen. If you looked down one side of opposite ends it just looked different to what I am used to seeing, especially out in India. It looked green and grassy up in the changing rooms, but then you go out there it looked different: very dark and crumbly and quite a few cracks in it."

On the other hand, vice-captain Ollie Pope pointed out a significant feature of the pitch, noting an abundance of rough patches outside the "right-hander's off stump" which will likely assist India's premier spinner R Ashwin."It kind of looks like one half is good and then there's a lot of platey cracks at the other. At the minute, it looks like batting from the far end, there's rough outside the right-hander's off-stump. For example, Ashwin's going to bowl from that end from over-the-wicket because he might want to bowl it into the rough," Pope was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

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He added, "And from this end, it's outside the left-hander's off-stump. That's how we see it at the minute. I think we will see what happens tomorrow after the Indian team has looked at the wicket, then make a decision from there."

England trail the five-match series 1-2after a whopping 434-run loss in the third Test in Rajkot. Stokes opined on the huge loss, saying that England have left behind the Rajkot drubbing and are looking forward to the remaining two games to win the series 3-2. In this regard, Stokes claimed, "It's sport. You get plaudits when it goes well and not when it doesn't. It's part of it, I've been around long enough to know that, but we crack on. Defeats like last week can have a bigger effect on the team that it needs to be. But I'm comfortable with how I addressed that. I know it's the next game that counts. Me, as a person, and I'm sure every player in the dressing room has reflected in some way on that game. But in terms of the result, no."

For India, the Rohit Sharma-led side will look to attain an unassailable lead in the series with a win in Ranchi.