RANCHI Notebook DAY 1
⬤ ENGLAND leg-spinner rehan ahmed became the fourth player in the series to drop out for personal reasons after flying home ahead of this Test. ahmed, who took 11 wickets at 44 in the first three games, will not return to India, and England are not planning to replace him. Harry Brook pulled out of the series in advance, and Virat Kohli — who this week has been spotted in London — sat things out while his wife, anushka Sharma, gave birth to their second child. Meanwhile, Indian spinner ravichandran ashwin briefly withdrew from the rajkot Test to visit his ill mother.
⬤ OLLIE ROBINSON may have finally got his chance in Ranchi, but a case of mistaken identity led him to breach England security earlier on the tour. Team protocol insists players have to inform their ever-present security guard, Yas, if they want to leave the hotel. Robinson messaged Yas to ask whether he and his partner, golf influencer Mia Baker, who has been accompanying him on tour, could go for a walk. But he sent it to the wrong Yas — Wisden Cricket Monthly journalist Yas Rana — who was bemused to find an England fast bowler asking his permission to go for a stroll. He duly granted Robinson’s wish, only for security guard Yas to ask why he wasn’t consulted.
⬤ RAVINDRA JADEJA, restaurateur as well as one of the best spinners in the world, has extended his burgeoning business empire to have a share in a hotel franchise in India, including the one both teams are staying at in ranchi. But he might be advised to keep a low profile while staying there himself because the management have not endeared themselves to other residents, including media figures and England supporters, by making leisure facilities out of bounds to all but the teams for the duration of the fourth Test. Complaints have already flooded into reception.
⬤ WHEN Ravichandran Ashwin trapped Jonny Bairstow for 38, he became only the fourth Test cricketer to achieve the double of 100 wickets and 1,000 runs against England — and the first since the great West Indian all-rounder Garry Sobers back in 1974. The other two are Australians from the late 19th and early 20th centuries: Monty Noble and George Giffen.