India have absolutely dominated this one-off Test match against Afghanistan at Mullanpur after racking up 564 in their first innings and leaving Afghanistan reeling at 113-5 at the end of day 2 with the threat of the follow-on ever present.
Now with Afghanistan already five wickets down it has to be stated that India are now firmly in position to secure a dominant victory. However, it brings up an interesting point as to whether they will need to bat a second time in this Test.
The answer is with the follow-on rule of Test cricket.
How Many Runs Does Afghanistan Need to Avoid Follow-On?
In a Test match under the current laws, you can enforce the follow on if you have gained a 200 or more first innings lead over the opposition over a period of 5 days.
So with India having declared their first innings at 564 runs, Afghanistan need 365 to save the follow on. This is because by scoring 365 you bring India's first innings lead down to under 200 runs.
With Afghanistan at 113-5 at the end of Day 2, they still need another 252 runs to get to that 365 and therefore avoid the follow on.
If they get bundled out before they reach 365, India will have the option of asking Afghanistan to bat again straight away, before batting themselves in the second innings.
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How India Can Win by an Innings
If India choose to enforce the follow-on then Afghanistan will have to bat for the second time.
Afghanistan then need to wipe out India's lead and post sufficient runs on the board to bat India for the second time. If they fail to reach the target then their defeat will be decided by innings.
In case the aggregate score of Afghanistan's both innings is less than that of India's first innings total 564 then India will not have to bat. The difference will be decided by the amount by which India are in lead after Afghanistan's second innings gets over.
At 113/5, the visitors have gifted India an excellent chance to have an innings victory. However they still have five wickets to play with and are looking forward to post an aggregate of scores higher than 564 in their two innings to avoid follow-on.
All attention will be glued on to the arena in the third Test to see if Afghanistan cross 365 or does India move towards an innings victory.
