Here Are 3 Key Reasons Why India Didn’t Enforce Follow-On In First Test

Despite having a big lead of 254 runs.In reply to India’s first innings total of 404, Bangladesh folded for 150 courtest of a five-wicket haul from Kuldeep Yadav – his third in 8 Tests – while Mohammed Siraj had taken 3 wickets yesterday.


The primary reason that stand-in captain KL Rahul and head coach Rahul Dravid decided that India will bat again is to bat Bangladesh out of the match. While enforcing a follow-on – asking Bangladesh to bat again – wouldn’t have been a wrong choice either.


Bangladesh an opportunity to bat on the pitch that was still decent for batting if a batter applies himself well, as Pujara and Gill did.Remember, this is still a Day 3 surface. India batted for most of Day 3 and only in the last hour or so, asked the hosts to start their second innings.By batting for 61.4 overs in their second innings, India also let the pitch deteriorate further. There has been invariable bounce on this pitch, which will only get worse as the game moves on in Day 4 and Day 5.


Chattogram is in fact the best pitch in Bangladesh for batting – it is here where West Indies, forefronted by Kyle Mayers’ 210, chased down 395 last year in the last session of a Test, and recently India piled up 400 in an ODI courtesy of Ishan Kishan’s double century.So instead of giving Bangladesh the chance to bat on a better surface on Day 3, the hosts will now have to grind harder in the next two days as the pitch breaks down further.


Also, there is another factor of giving a rest of a couple of sessions to the Indian bowlers after they had bowled close to 60 overs in Bangladesh’s first innings.
Not enforcing the follow-on isn’t new in the Indian team. Even former skipper Virat Kohli rarely gave the follow-on and mostly endorsed batting again to give his fast bowlers some rest and unleash then when they are fresh again.