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Tendulkar's decision dubious - Yet in elite company

The Law 13 (1) states: In a two innings match the side which bats first and leads by 200 runs in a match of five days or more, by 150 runs in a three-day or four-day match, by 100 runs in a two-day match, or by 75 runs in a one-day match, shall have option of requiring the other side to follow their innings.

This Law which first appeared in 1835 was perhaps the most controversial of the Cricket Laws. Initially it was compulsory for a team to enforce the follow-on if the lead was over 100 runs.
It underwent great changes when the captains started taking undue advantage of this Law as it existed in the 1800s.Sometimes the fielding side would deliberately give away runs if it thought that chances of winning would be greater if the other side did not follow-on. There were times when a side does not wish to be faced with a worn wicket in a last innings, and therefore prefers not to enforce the follow-on.

It was not until 1900 that the law was altered to make follow-on optional. At the same time the margin was increased to 150 runs in a three-day match. From 1963 it was decided to experiment with a follow-on of 200 runs for a match of five days or more. This became the Law in 1971.

In fact the first captain to enforce a follow-on in Tests was England's Lord Harris against Australia at the Oval, in 1880, which incidentally was the first ever Test to be played in England.

There have been several instances in Test cricket when the captain did not enforce the follow-on for various reasons. However in most cases his decision not to do so has ultimately resulted in victory. However in the last 30 odd years only three Test captains could not force a victory after not enforcing the follow-on. Sachin Tendulkar unfortunately became the third such captain. He however can draw some solace from the fact that he joins England's Ray Illingworth and West Indian Gary Sobers in this dubious club of captains.

Illingworth did not enforce the follow-on despite a lead of 235 runs against Australia at Adelaide in February, 1971. He set his opponents a target of 469 runs in 500 minutes. Australia managed to draw the match scoring 328-3 at stumps on the last day.

A year later, West Indies captain Gary Sobers against New Zealand at Port of Spain in April, 1972 did not make his opponents bat again despite a first innings lead of 206 runs. He eventually left New Zealand 605 minutes in which to score 401 runs. The visitors finally managed to score 253 for seven wickets thanks New Zealand's eight wicket pair of Ken Wadsworth and Bruce Taylor who batted out the last 106 minutes to earn a draw.

The list below provides the names of the captains who did not enforce the follow-on despite having a chance to do so. Interestingly in the last decade, other than Tendulkar, Australian Mark Taylor and South African Hansie Cronje were the only to do so. Needless to mention Taylor and Cronje led their teams to victory. Incidentally. India's lead of 275 at Ahmedabad was the second highest by a team not enforcing a follow-on.

Lead	Teams (and scores)	Result	Venue	Date	Captain
223	WI (397 & 229)	beat Eng (174 & 231) by 221 runs	Leeds	July, 1963	FMM Worrell
206	Eng (298 & 203)	beat Ind (92 & 277) by 132runs	Birmingham	July, 1967	DB Close
340	Aus (619 & 394-8d)	beat WI (279 & 352) by 382 runs	Sydney	Feb., 1969	WM Lawry
218	SA (382 & 232)	beat Aus (164 & 280) by 170 runs	Cape Town	Jan., 1970	A Bacher
235	Eng (470 & 233-4d)	drew Aus (235 & 328-3) Match Drawn	Adelaide	Feb., 1971	R Illingworth
206	WI (368-9d & 194)	drew NZ (162 & 253-7) Match Drawn	Port of Spain	April, 1972	GS Sobers
252	WI (687-8d & 182-0)	beat Eng (435 & 203) by 231 runs	The Oval	Aug., 1972	CH Lloyd
236	Aus (505 & 256)	beat Ind (269 & 445) by 47 runs	Adelaide	Feb., 1978	RB Simpson
213	Eng (420 & 297)	beat NZ (207 & 345) by 165 runs	Nottingham	Aug., 1983	RGD Willis
259	Aus (426 & 248-8d)	beat Eng (167 & 323) by 184 runs	Brisbane	Nov., 1994	MA Taylor
230	SA (460 & 259-7d)	beat Pak (230 & 165) by 324 runs	Joh'burg	Jan., 1995	WJ Cronje
275	Ind (583-7d & 148-5d)	drew NZ (308 & 252-2) Match Drawn	Ahmedabad	Nov., 1999	SR Tendulkar