Already 2-1 down in the ongoing five-match Test series against India, England are desperately searching for a victory in their bid to level the series 2-2. 

Ahead of the series, Indian pitches were predominantly thought to be having a lot for the spinners - considering the amount of help spinners got in the last series - but that didn’t happen this time as both spinners and pacers have had a lot of support from the pitch in the past three matches of the ongoing series.

The fourth Test match is scheduled to be played in Ranchi from Friday. A lot remains to be seen as to what sort of surface will bowlers come across in the fourth Test. Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah has been rested for the fourth Test, giving England an advantage in the crucial match. However, pitch conditions will play a huge role in deciding the outcome of the game. Ahead of the fourth Test in Ranchi, England batter Ollie Pope weighed in on the pitch.

"It looks an interesting pitch. There's a lot of cracks, it's very platey, and they've just wetted it as well, which generally dries it up. If you wet it and leave it in the sun, we have found it crusts that top layer. It doesn't necessarily look like a belting wicket at the moment. It’s hard to describe it,” Pope told reporters on Wednesday. 

"It kind of looks like one half is good and then there's a lot of platey cracks at the other. At the minute, it looks like batting from the far end, there's rough outside the right-hander's off-stump. For example, Ashwin's going to bowl from that end from over-the-wicket because he might want to bowl it into the rough,” stated Pope.

“If it spins from ball one, it would take the pitch out of the equation too. A lot of games start with a flat pitch, it would deteriorate. That kind of gives the team batting first some advantage,” said Pope.