India did not enforce follow on at Oval in spite of having 319 runs lead. India batted and declared at 180/6 setting a target of 500 for England to win. The excuse by Dravid was that bowlers needed rest which was contradicted by Zaheer Khan. Chandu Borde said a team can score 500 runs in the last innings. What was happening?
It was immaterial that India won a series in England after 21 years. A Test that could have been won by enforcing follow on was not won. England could not have crossed 319 and scored many runs to defeat India. At the most the Test could have ended in draw.
In India’s second innings Dravid faced 96 balls and scored 12 runs. In England’s second innings he dropped Michael Vaughan who was on 18.
It is for the third time in recent years that India did not enforce follow on. First time Sachin Tendulkar was the captain and we had 275 runs lead against New Zealand. Second time Sourav Ganguly was the captain and we had 230 runs lead against Australia. Rarely a team loses after enforcing follow on and when happens there is something fishy. Once Australia lost to England after enforcing follow on and Lillee and Marsh were involved in betting.
Did Dravid not enforce follow on or was he told by someone from BCCI? During India vs Zimbabwe match in 1999 World Cup India had to score six runs for victory with two overs remaining and three wickets at hand. Raj Singh Dungarpur told the Indian players to finish the match in one over and India lost three wickets and the match in that over.
Was there match fixing at Oval? Lot of money in involved in betting and that leads to match fixing. I appeal to all not to bet.
Usually I do not read article on blogs, however I would like to
say that this write-up very compelled me to take a
look at and do so! Your writing style has been surprised me.
Thanks, very great article.
WOW just what I was searching for. Came here by searching for cricket