With the tea interval approaching, the sky above, obscured by clouds, began to cloak itself in shadows. India’s batting cohort, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rajat Patidar, found themselves in the throes of a stern assessment, grappling not only with the unanticipated lift off the Ranchi pitch but also contending with the capricious turns the surface generated. Pitch quandaries was not the only problem here, blame it on the line and length of England’s Shoaib Bashir, complemented by the field placements his skipper Ben Stokes had in place for the Indians.

The bucolic charm of the pitch, once conducive to stroke play and high scores, seems to have given way to a treacherous terrain where spinners revel, and batsmen find themselves entangled in a web of uncertainty. The nuances of this pitch have surfaced with a vengeance, becoming a turning point in matches and a source of consternation for the likes of Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid.