Virat Kohli is one of the aggressive and attacking captains in world cricket. He likes taking ahead of his opponents and keeps making out-of-the-box-moves to outfox the opposition. Kohli, unlike Indian captains of the past, likes playing with an extra fast bowler, even on the slow-low pitches, in Asia.
In his captaincy career so far, Virat Kohli has avoided giving follow 4 times. And enforced follow on on 2 occasions. Times when he chose to enforce the follow-on, the first match ended in a draw against Bangladesh because of rain and the second against West Indies resulted an innings victory for India.
In the picture shared below, 4 matches in which Kohli didn’t enforce follow-on have been listed. And, interestingly, India won all the 4 matches by a massive margin. And all these 4 matches were against different oppositions. Check it out here:
However, a Quora user answered this question and we agree with most of he wrote on this thread.
1. No team wants to bat in the fourth innings on a fifth-day wicket. The pitch supports the bowlers heavily on the last day and it really becomes difficult to chase even 150. Virat does not want to take a risk and give the opposition any chance of coming back in the game. Though the probability of the opposition to set a big target is very less if a follow on is enforced but even 150–200 is enough and it’s not a risk worth taking.
2. The bowlers get a bit of break when the team bats again especially considering the fact the players are playing too much cricket nowadays.
3. There is no the need of hurrying up in a Test match. It is played for 5 days or 15 sessions. A win is a win, even if you win it on the fourth day or in the fifth day last season.
4. The probability of losing from setting a target of 450+ is very less compared to the probability of losing from a follow on.
