Ben Stokes‘ wicket at the stroke of lunch on the first morning of the Ranchi Test has sparked a lot of reactions on the quality of the pitch.

England won the toss and chose to bat first in fourth Test of the series and were greeted with a lively surface which seamed around early on for the Indian seamers. At the same time, the English batters also played their shots and scored at a quick rate, before a pea-roller from Ravindra Jadeja just before lunch changed the narrative around the pitch.

Jadeja and R Ashwin had not extracted appreciable purchase on the first morning till the former got one to almost roll along the ground and trap England captain Ben Stokes lbw, leading to extreme reactions from those watching.

Alastair Cook, commenting at lunch on Stokes’ dismissal, explained how helpless Stokes was in the situation. “Sometimes as a batsman, you walk off, put your head down and just say, ‘I cannot do anything about that.’ Ben Stokes there, he played it absolutely [like] he should do. Playing off the back foot, playing nice and straight and [the ball] just rolled under the bat,” Cook said. “You can only laugh, otherwise you’ll just cry and you can’t do anything about that.”

Before the start of the game, Stokes had said that he had “never seen anything like that before” referring to the Ranchi surface. “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,” Stokes had told BBC Sport.

At lunch on day one, England were 112-5, with reactions from pundits online even more severe. Michael Vaughan called the pitch “a shocker” while Wisden Almanack editor Lawrence Booth suggested even the smallest chase could be a challenge.

The old saying .. Do not judge a pitch till both teams have batted and bowled on it .. but let’s be honest .. this one looks a shocker .. #INDvsENG

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) February 23, 2024

Stokes is hit on the ankle and is lbw to Jadeja. Wouldn’t want to be chasing, what, 25 in the fourth innings?

— Lawrence Booth (@BoothCricket) February 23, 2024

Lots of cracks in the Ranchi pitch. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/4ZVNNy0lMh

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) February 23, 2024

Stokes couldn't have done anything about that. You really don't think a ball would keep that low in the first session of a Test.

— Gurkirat Singh Gill (@gurkiratsgill) February 23, 2024

If that Stokes ball is anything to go by we’d better enjoy this Test while it lasts… #INDvENG

— Melinda Farrell (@melindafarrell) February 23, 2024

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