Former India head coach Ravi Shastri took a sly dig at England vice-captain Ollie Pope for his comments on the Ranchi pitch, he made before the start of the ongoing fourth Test match. The Ranchi surface has the assistance for the spinners as before the clash Pope made his assessment and called it a 'very interesting pitch' with plenty of platy cracks. The English batter's comments drew scrutiny from some quarters as Shastri also criticised him for that.

The ongoing Test has thus far witnessed some gritty and solid knocks from Joe Root (122), Dhruv Jurel (90) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (73), meanwhile, Pope had forgettable outings with the bat. The England vice-captain registered a pair of ducks in Ranchi as the comments regarding the pitch backfired for him. He was dismissed for a second-ball duck in the first innings by debutant Akash Deep while veteran Ravichandran Ashwin got the better of him on a golden duck in his second outing in Ranchi.

Shastri, who is currently doing the commentating duties in Ranchi, slammed the ones who criticised the pitch as he also pointed out Pope and said those who talked about it failed to get runs.

“The pitch was called all sorts of planets before the start. And those who talked about it did not get runs. Ollie Pope was one. Don't play the pitch, play the ball. Rohit Sharma will do that on Day 4,” Shastri said.

Meanwhile, ahead of the clash, Pope said that there were plenty of platy cracks on the surface while also suggesting that India could use an extra spinner in Axar Patel. However, it didn't happen as the hosts stuck with their three spinners combination.

"Looks like a very interesting pitch. Plenty of platy cracks, one half is good. The other half has flaky cracks, look like. Not a very belter kind of surface. So let’s see what happens when India have a look at it later in the day. Every chance India can play an extra spinner - Axar Patel definitely an option for them. They have watered the pitch so potentially an extra spinner could be seen from India," Pope told reporters.

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