Head coach Rahul Dravid did his customary recce of the pitch at the JSCA International Stadium on Thursday, speaking to BCCI chief curator Ashish Bhowmik and the other groundsmen on the sidelines of India’s optional practice session.

For England, it wasn’t just captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum, but even assistant coach (for Tests) Paul Collingwood, selector Luke Wright and a team analyst were engrossed in a deep conversation surrounding the 22-yard surface as the visitors started getting ready with their training on the eve of the fourth Test.

What seemed to have grabbed England’s attention was the black patch, which is there in an area or two of the pitch, something Stokes said he had “never seen” during his interaction with the UK media on Wednesday. So, what exactly is this black patch and does it imply that the pitch will crumble fast leading to a three-day or fourth-morning finish?

According to the locals, it’s unlikely the penultimate Test of the five-match series will last five days, given the nature of the wicket. But according to a source in the BCCI, the black patch shouldn’t be a matter of worry.

“It’s a black-soil wicket, and the Ranchi black soil is such that it (wicket) doesn’t break up fast,” the Board source said. “The (black) patch has appeared as players had run over the area/s concerned when games used to be played on the adjacent wickets.

“This pitch is the one that had been used in the previous two Tests at this venue: India-Australia in 2017 and India-South Africa in 2019. In those two Tests, the fast bowlers too had enjoyed some success.”

Since Thursday afternoon, the overhead conditions
have been a tad gloomy here with a sprinkling of rain as well. If it remains overcast in the coming days as well, the quicks could well have a bigger role to play.

India, up 2-1 in the series, believe they have the balance needed to adapt to any surface and would like to seal the series here itself.

“It’s a typical Indian wicket. There are cracks, but having said that, this wicket always had cracks,” batting coach Vikram Rathour said. “We have enough balance in our team to combat whatever comes our way.”

England will go in with two quicks — Ollie Robinson (in place of Mark Wood) and James Anderson — and have brought in Shoaib Bashir in place of Rehan Ahmed. Their hope is that Robinson, Bashir and Tom Hartley, with their height, will exploit a pitch expected to take turn and bounce unevenly.

“There’s a bit more grass taken off from yesterday (Wednesday). But the overall understanding of the wicket hasn’t actually changed that much from yesterday (Wednesday),” Stokes said.

The visitors though aren’t going in with “too many pre-conceived ideas” about the pitch. “The pitch could be as flat as a pancake, who knows! If it is, we will adapt to that,” the captain said.