It was another day of dominance for India in Chattogram as they piled up more runs to set Bangladesh an unthinkable target of 513 runs. If the hosts can chase it – or even come close to it – in the remaining 2 days of the game, then we are in for a memorable, incredible batting performance from the hosts.
Nonetheless, the talking point among many fans today – apart from centuries from Cheteshwar Pujara and Shubman Gill – was that India didn’t enforce the follow-on on Bangladesh and instead decided to bat again 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 minimum lead required for enforcing a follow-on on any team is 200 runs; India had a lead of 254, yet they opted to bat again.
Here are the reasons why India didn’t enforce the follow-on on Bangladesh:
To bat Bangladesh out of the game
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, but that would have given 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.
To not give Bangladesh any chance of a comeback
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. Since there is so much time left in the game to bowl Bangladesh out – two days now – there was no question of Bangladesh drawing it out too.
Give the bowlers some rest
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.
