The Indian team failed to register a win in the second Test of the recently concluded series against Sri Lanka. After winning the first Test of the series comfortably, Sri Lanka put up quite the fight in the Colombo clash and ended up drawing the game.
It is worth noting that India came in to bat first and declared on a score of 503 runs in the first innings. Furthermore, Sri Lanka was bundled out for 290 in the first innings, and the side was made to follow on. Putting in a brilliant performance with the bat, Sri Lanka went on to score 429/9 as the game was drawn.
Speaking on the same, former India cricketer Kris Srikkanth took centre stage and defended Shubman Gill’s strategy, and the Indian team’s decision to let Sri Lanka follow on as well.
“India had no other choice because of the rainy conditions. I agree with the follow-on decision. What would India have done batting again? They would have done nothing. Because it was a rain-curtailed match, time was a factor,” Srikkanth said in a video on his YouTube channel.
Srikkanth opened up on the logic behind the move as well
Furthermore, Srikkanth talked about how the Indian team wanted to rest their bowlers in the game had India not enforced the follow-on. However, the move ended up backfiring in the visitors’ faces as Sri Lanka put forth a marvellous performance in the second innings, and went on to draw the clash as well.
“The only reasoning against it could have been to give bowlers two hours of rest. Just for that, India could have maybe batted for 30 overs. Now they’ve ended up bowling on three consecutive days, so the bowlers would have been tired,” said Srikkanth.
Having won the series 1-0, India will now shift their focus onto the shortest format. The side will take on Afghanistan next in a three-game T20I series. The two sides will meet for the first T20I at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on September 13. The second and third T20Is of the series will be played on September 15 and 17 at the same venue.
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