Indian batsmen can’t blame pitch with low bounce for their failures

When the second day ended, the sun was a distant, drowning spot in the Ranchi skies. The backdrop was more akin to an English evening, and the sorry scorecard would suggest that India were subjected to a harrowing spell of swing and seam bowling. The story couldn’t have been more conflicting, as it was not the seaming ball but the spinning ball that confounded India’s batsmen.

Paras Mhambrey, India’s bowling coach, would take objection to calling the surface a turner. “It was not a turner,” he emphasized. “No ball spun alarmingly. It was the low bounce that made batting difficult here,” he added.

When variable bounce kicks in, batting becomes nightmarish. Anywhere in the world; any time of a Test match. Suddenly, the judgement fades, the confidence fizzles and doubts creep in. It’s like watching a horror movie, even when you watch the quiet passage, you are on the edge of the sofa, breaking into a cold sweat, fearing a sudden pang of dread lurking in the corner.

Stumps on Day 2 in Ranchi!

A valuable unbeaten partnership between Dhruv Jurel and Kuldeep Yadav helps #TeamIndia move to 219/7 👏

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/FUbQ3MhXfH#INDvENG | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/fhnl0yrMbP

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 24, 2024

Many a ball kept low in Ranchi. Some were so devious that the batsman could just hold their breath and thank their luck for leaving them unharmed. Technically, low bounce consumed just the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal, not a grubber like Ben Stokes faced but still low. It’s a familiar devil on most Indian surfaces, but usually does not interfere as early as in the second session of the second day. Mbambrey admitted as much: “We didn’t expect it this early.” Or perhaps this low.

Static feet

But as vile as the bounce was, Indian batsmen made their own life miserable. Static feet and frozen minds were the predominant theme of their dressing room march. Instructive is the example of Shubman Gill. For much of the innings, Gill’s footwork was fluid. He essayed a brace of gorgeous off-drives, one apiece of James Anderson and Ollie Robinson. Both were just extensions of a defensive push, wherein he smoothly transferred his weight onto the front-foot.

Consequently, the England seamers shortened their length, the ensuing short balls he gracefully cut to the fence. Gill has been diligently working on this aspect of the game in the nets, and so far his front-foot had been moving fluidly. But against Shoaib Bashir, the front foot seemed chained to the crease.

Jadeja unleashes his power with 𝚜𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍-like sixes! 💥 #INDvENG #IDFCFirstBankTestSeries #BazBowled #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/d4OkgOJKZ7

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) February 24, 2024

He would make the initial stride and just pause. The second, small stride would never follow. Perhaps, he was too cagey of the (uneven) bounce Bashir was generating, that his stride was as indecisive as it was inadequate. Had his front-foot been more definite, the impact of the ball could have been outside the off-stump (it was umpire’s call on review, eventually), and it would sow enough suspicion in the umpire’s mind to not lift his index finger (hitting the stumps too was umpire’s call).

You could empathize with Gill. He played with the bat held close to his leg, perhaps insecure of his jabby hands, in case the ball leapt.

Patidar’s struggles

Ungainlier, though, was the dismissal of Rajat Patidar, a vastly experienced domestic unsure. His foot-work was an unsalvageable mess. His strides are short — which is not necessarily a bane, provided the movements are definite. But his was not. Perhaps the pressure of failures are piling up. And eventually, he played back to the ball that he would have been much better off defending on the front-foot. The skid rendered his hands helpless in staving off danger, from the ball blasting onto his stumps. His proficiency to repel spin bowling — given his immense domestic experience — seems grossly over-blown.

Bashir breaks the crucial partnership between Gill and Jaiswal! 🥲 #INDvENG #IDFCFirstBankTestSeries #BazBowled #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/hCKcWdJq5A

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) February 24, 2024

Watching chaos unfold, India sent Ravindra Jadeja at No.5, a supposedly sensible move. He was the man in form, on the back of a hundred and one who relishes rescue missions. But he seemed a batsman in haste, one who wanted to unpack his machismo rather than grinding the team out of trouble. He faced 12 balls, made 12 runs, heaved two sixes and got out, as though it was a tribute to his older, reckless self. He merely stretched, without getting near the pitch and jabbed at the ball. The over-spun ball bounced more than he had judged. The low hands of his when defending was now his enemy, and the ball shook off his gloves. Like Gill before, he too used hard hands, which stabbed at the ball.

Enter Sarfraz Khan, after twin half-centuries on debut, an instinctive destroyer of spin. But Bashir made him jumpy with a ball that lured him into the drive, dipped, kept straight and took the outside edge. Tom Hartley then hit him on the pads with a skidder and sought a review, He was just saved by the angle that ensured the ball was not hitting the stumps. Hartley then began to bowl progressively slow at him and tempted him into a drive at one floated outside the off-stump. The ball turned away to grab his outside edge.

In isolation, none of the balls were unplayable. But the minds of India’s batsmen were cluttered and confused. No wonder the pundits say cricket is a mind game. It was not the swinging ball under gloomy English Skies that preyed on their mind, but the more familiar low-bouncing balls under gloomy Indian skies.

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