Ravichandran Ashwin denied trying to scuff the pitch up after the umpires took the rare step of awarding England five penalty runs because India’s batsmen persistently ran on the wicket’s danger zone.

In the 102nd over of India’s first innings, umpire Joel Wilson signalled that England had been awarded five penalty runs after Ashwin, facing Rehan Ahmed, knocked the ball into the offside and charged down the middle of the pitch, only to turn on his heels when it became clear a run was not available.

Ashwin was aware that on the first evening, India were warned by the umpires for running on the protected area in the middle of the pitch. As the new ball approached, Sarfaraz Khan was spoken to, then Ravindra Jadeja was officially given a first and final warning, meaning that according to International Cricket Council playing condition 41.14, five penalty runs would be awarded for any more indiscretions.

With England’s fielders, including vice-captain Ollie Pope, keen to keep the umpires abreast of where India’s batsmen were running, Wilson did not hesitate in acting again. As a result, England began their response to India’s 445 on five without loss, which soon became six without loss when Jasprit Bumrah’s first ball of the innings was a no-ball.

Running down the pitch could rough the surface up, promoting spin later in the game. If a bowler is found to be running in the danger area in the middle of the pitch, the umpires whip them out of the attack for the remainder of the innings.

Off-spinner Ashwin, 37, joked that, rather than trying to accelerate the pitch’s deterioration, his athletic prowess prevented him from moving off the danger area in time.

“They clearly warned some of our batters yesterday for running on the pitch,” said Ashwin. “I was aware of it, but my poor motor skills didn’t allow me to get off the pitch in time. If the English media and players think it was on purpose, it wasn’t. If that’s how they want to treat it, so be it. I don’t think that pitch is breaking. Those spikes are really thin, like wafer thin. I said to Joel and Kumar that if it was poor motor skills. If I was any better I’d have been in the Olympics, why play cricket?”

Such incidents are seen rarely. In 2020, New Zealand were awarded five penalty runs in Sydney when Australia’s David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne were told off for running on the pitch.

In a Test against New Zealand at Indore in 2016, Jadeja was penalised 50 per cent of his match fee and handed three demerit points by the ICC for repeatedly “causing avoidable damage to the pitch”. Jadeja had been ticked off for running on the pitch earlier in the series, too.

Mark Wood, the England quick who took four for 114, was left confused by the unusual situation.

“I was not aware, I was on the boundary,” said Wood. “When the umpire [signalled], I was like ‘what is going on here?’ I honestly didn’t know the rule which is pretty shocking for an international cricketer but I just assumed that when all the lads were looking at each other and giggling, that something had happened. Jonny [Bairstow] was very adamant about looking after the wicket, he wanted everyone to be off it. I get warned plenty of times for running on the wicket when I bowl, so it’s nice to get one back off the batters.”

England benefited from the head start provided by India’s indiscretion, with openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett putting on 89 for the first wicket. Late in the day, Pope fell lbw to a Mohammed Siraj delivery that looked high, but was shown by India’s review to be hitting the top of leg stump. After the previous Test, England captain Ben Stokes questioned whether the technology had worked correctly after Crawley was dismissed in a similar fashion to Pope.