Australia vs India 2018: Allan Border Surprised With Virat Kohli's Decision of Not Enforcing a Follow-On
Updated - 28 Dec 2018, 09:00 PM
Former Australia great Allan Border expressed his surprise over Indian National Cricket team skipper Virat Kohli’s decision of not enforcing a follow-on despite having a massive 292 runs lead.
Meanwhile, the visitors gave away their opportunity to inflict more pressure on Australia to have complete control of the Boxing Day Test. However, following Jasprit Bumrah’s fiery spell to restrict Australia for 151, India decided to bat again. But Alan Border feels that Kohli and the Indian think tank’s decision to bat has given Australia some hope to save the Test match.
“You would like to think so [that Australia can come back into this] and I think this afternoon’s cricket has obviously given Australia a little bit of hope but the lead now almost to that stage where it’s going to be hard to chase down.
The pitch is still playing okay and we know it doesn’t deteriorate too much over here the next couple of days. India are still in the box seat but they’ve left the door slightly ajar for the Aussies,” Border said at the post-day show on Sony Sports.
India missed an opportunity
Virat Kohli’s decision of not enforcing a follow-on despite rain forecast over the weekend in Melbourne took Allan Border by surprise. In fact, under Kohli, India have won four out of five matches enforcing a follow-on, while one had ended in a draw owing to rain.
“I was really surprised that follow-on wasn’t enforced given that talking about high percentage of rain on Day 5 and even tomorrow some rain. So just with that lurking in the background, I thought you’ve got all the momentum you way, you’ve bowled Australia out and Bumrah has been fantastic.
“So they could have had the game just about done today and even if you gotta chase, say Australia have batted extraordinarily well and you’ve got to chase 120-140, this pitch here can get those runs. Look I thought India missed an opportunity to really seal the game but they’ve still got the higher ground,” Border concluded.
