India thumped Bangladesh by a huge margin of 280 runs in the first India vs Bangladesh Test that was played in Chennai.
All-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin starred with both bat and ball. In India’s first innings, he scored a brilliant century and forged a match-winning stand with Ravindra Jadeja after the top and middle order faltered against Hasan Mahmud.
Then, in Bangladesh’s second innings, the local boy Ashwin got rolling with the ball to take a six-wicket haul. Ashwin bagged the Player of the Match award for his all-round show as India took a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Could India have delayed their declaration for KL Rahul to get some runs under his belt?
Although India captain Rohit Sharma made mostly correct decisions in the Chennai Test, commentator Aakash Chopra feels that the Indian team management should have delayed their declaration to allow KL Rahul to get some runs under his belt.
In the first innings, Rahul scored 16 runs off 52 balls, and in the second innings, he scored 22* runs off 19 balls and looked solid while creaming four classy fours. However, his innings wasn’t allowed to extend as Rohit declared the innings about an hour before Tea on Day 3.
Rahul is returning to Test cricket after missing the last four Tests against England due to an injury. He hit a gritty fifty in the second innings of his only encounter in the Duleep Trophy and was looking in good touch during India’s second innings in Chennai.
IND vs BAN: India Should Have Delayed Declaration for KL Rahul, Says Aakash Chopra
Former India batsman Aakash Chopra pointed out that with a lot of time left in the game, India could have allowed Rahul to play for some more time, an aspect of India’s decision that Chopra reckons could have been different.
“The thing they would think about is that one-and-a-half days were left, you have won by 280 runs, you didn’t give the follow-on as well, you were not falling short of time, there was no rain coming, so could we have allowed KL Rahul to score 60-70 runs?” the former India opener said in his YouTube video.
“Since the option was available, you could have given him the chance, because it wouldn’t have impacted the overall result of the match. That is point one. It wouldn’t have impacted your workload management. When it was not impacting anything, if a player who was on a 19-ball 22 had played for one to one-and-a-quarter hours, it wouldn’t have impacted your health.
“You have pushed him down to No. 6. Proper batters don’t play at No. 6. So I felt thinking about him was probably an option. They should have thought about him because it was not impacting the result of the match,” Chopra asserted.
The second Test, which will be played in Kanpur, will get underway on September 27.
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