The pitch used for the fourth India-England Test at Ranchi came under fire after Ben Stokes was dismissed by a ball that shot low from Ravindra Jadeja on the first morning of the Test.

Stokes’ departure marked the end of an extremely eventful opening session, one that saw debutant Akash Deep take three early wickets between enterprising counter-attacks from Zak Crawley and Jonny Bairstow. There were some signs of early inconsistent bounce but nothing off the pitch was as dramatic as the shooter that contributed to Stokes’ downfall.

Stokes played back to a length ball from over the wicket from Jajeda that kept extremely low, barely getting off the ground. The ball thudded into his pads after pitching in line and Stokes turned to head back to the dressing before the umpire could raise his finger.

The manner of Stokes’ dismissal prompted criticism towards the pitch. Former England captain Michael Vaughan tweeted that he thought that the pitch “looks [like] a shocker.”

The ICC’s Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process, that was updated in November 2023, is explicit in how it judges pitches. In its general comments, it states: “The objective of a Test pitch shall be to allow all the individual skills of the game to be demonstrated by the players at various stages of the match. If anything, the balance of the contest between bat and ball in a Test match should slightly favour the bowling team.

“A pitch should be expected to deteriorate as the match progresses, and consequently, the bounce could become more inconsistent, and the ball could deviate more (seam and spin) off the wearing surface.”

It later goes on to state that anything more than occasional unevenness of bounce early in a Test is “unacceptable.” It states: “It is acceptable for a pitch to offer some degree of turn on the first day of a match, particularly in the sub-continent, though anything more than occasional unevenness of bounce at this stage of the match is not acceptable. It is to be expected that a pitch will turn steadily more as a match progresses, and it is recognised that a greater degree of unevenness of bounce may develop.”

If a pitch is deemed “unsatisfactory” by the match referee, the venue is handed a demerit point. An unsatisfactory pitch is defined as: “A pitch that does not allow an even contest between bat and ball:

• Either by favouring the batters too much, with minimal wicket-taking opportunities for both seam and spin, or
• By favouring the bowlers too much, with too many wicket-taking opportunities for either seam or spin.”

A venue needs to accumulate at least six demerit points over a rolling five-year period to lead to a 12-month suspension from the ICC.

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