The Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Shubman Gill have come under scrutiny for their decision to make a follow-on call during the second test against the West Indies.
The visitors put up an admirable fight with the bat in their second innings, forcing India to bat again. This is the first time since 2012 that India has been asked to bat again after enforcing the follow-on.
India declared their innings for 518 for 5 on a pitch that offered very little assistance to bowlers at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Shubman Gill was unbeaten on 129 following a commanding knock from Yashasvi Jaiswal.
With Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar yet to bat, the team management appeared to be confident that they had enough runs.
India’s bowling attack had performed impressively in the first innings, with Kuldeep Yadav taking five wickets and Ravindra Jadeja adding to their.
Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj bagged three wickets each as India’s full-strength attack was poised to secure another comfortable win.
Shubman Gill-led side enforced the follow-on in the afternoon of day 03 with a lead of 270 runs. The West Indies lost two early wickets in their second innings, with Tagenarine Chanderpaul and Alick Athanaze dismissed for single figures.
While it initially appeared that India would wrap up the match quickly, Campbell and Roston Chase put together a 177-run partnership to take the test into the fourth day.
On this occasion, several fans have questioned India’s decision to enforce the follow-on, particularly after their bowlers had already delivered 81.5 overs in the first innings on a surface offering minimal assistance.
India’s bowlers were made to bowl more than 90 overs in the second innings amid concerns over the workload of the pacers.
“A lot of BS on Cricket Twitter about how enforcing the follow-on is ‘attacking’. It’s not. Enforcing the follow-on when there’s no time pressure is just silly. Why do teams do it? It’s having the choice of batting on Day 3 and bowling on Day 4, and choosing to do the opposite,” said a fan in X.
Batting their second innings, India completed the day 04 with 63 runs on board and will be needing 58 runs to extend the game to the fifth day at Arun Jaitley Stadium.
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