‘I thought he made a big error…’: Geoffrey Boycott gives his take on Ben Stokes’s captaincy and reason visitors lost 4th IND vs ENG Test in Ranchi | Cricket News

Defending 192 runs in the 4th Test in Ranchi England got to the worst possible start on the evening of Day 3 when the visitors gave away 40 runs in no time without threatening to pick a wicket on a pitch that was aiding the spinners and had invariable bounce. Skipper Ben Stokes opted to open with Joe Root and Tom Hartley who struggled with their accuracy and gifted full-tosses and half-volleys to Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
“I like Stokes’s captaincy but I thought he made a big error opening the bowling with two spinners, Root and Tom Hartley.” Geoffrey Boycott would write in his column for The Telegraph. “Stokes was thinking that a harder new ball would bounce more and a raised seam would create more spin.”
“The problem is that unless you are experienced at bowling spin with a new ball then the lacquer makes it slip out of the fingers so it is difficult to drop it on a length. When I played, spinners could rub the ball in the dirt to rough it up and grip it better but that is banned now so it is hard for them to control. I think Stokes out-thought himself,” he added.
England had the option of James Anderson who was miserly with the new ball and troubled Rohit Sharma in the first innings of the Test. Boycott would predict that while the veteran pacer would have not been able to pick a wicket but could have kept the scoring rate down and that would have given control to the England team.
“Chasing small totals in the last innings of a Test match has horically proved difficult for many teams because the pitch is usually worn and playing tricks. Early wickets are a priceless bonus but it is also imperative the bowlers tie the batsmen down to build pressure on the batting team,” Boycott would further write.