KL Rahul was batting on 22* when Rohit Sharma declared India's second innings at Chepauk.
Team India registered an emphatic 280-run victory over Bangladesh in the first Test match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Sunday (September 23).
Despite India’s win, former cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra pointed out an area where captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Gautam Gambhir could have done differently.
According to Chopra, the India team management could have allowed KL Rahul a bit more time at the crease.
While Rahul fell after scoring 16 runs in the first innings, he remained unbeaten on 22 in the second dig as Rohit declared the innings at 287/4, setting a daunting 515-run target for Bangladesh.
"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?" Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
"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," he added.
Aakash Chopra also recalled former India skipper Rahul Dravid's infamous declaration call from the 2004 Multan Test when the legendary Sachin Tendulkar was batting on 194.
Although Aakash clarified that he is not comparing the two batters, he felt that Rahul deserved the opportunity given that he is a specialist batter who was pushed down the order at No. 6.
"When you turn back and see, the road looks clear. Paaji (Sachin Tendulkar) was on 194 when Rahul (Dravid) had declared in Multan. When he (Dravid) also was asked after the match, when the match got over on the fourth evening, he said he wouldn't have declared if he had known," he remarked.
"I am not saying that he (Rahul) was at 195 here but he is KL Rahul and not Sachin Tendulkar. 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."
With this victory, India took an unassailable 1-0 lead in the two-match series against Bangladesh. The second Test is slated to be held in Kanpur from September 27.