Former India player Mohammed Kaif, while commentating during the first Test match between India and Bangladesh, had a request for the Indian coach Rahul Dravid. Kaif questioned his former captain if he doesn’t ask the Indian team to declare the innings when Shubhaman Gill is batting in the 90s. Kaif was referring to Dravid’s famous declaration when Sachin Tendulkar was not out nearing a double hundred against Pakistan. Gill, after an underwhelming performance in the first innings, was approaching his maiden Test Century.
Despite Gill’s early dismissal, the game has tilted towards the KL-Rahul-led side after three dominant days of play. In the first innings, India posted 404 runs with quality knocks by Cheteshwar Pujara and Shreyas Iyer. Then bowlers came with an incredible display as the hosts were bundled out the for just 150.
In the Indian second inning, Shubhman Gill returned with a bang as he scored a brilliant knock and was nearing his first-ever Test century overtaking his previous best score of 91. Talking about Gill’s inning, Mohammed Kaif talked about Rahul Dravid taking a decision to declare the innings when the Chandigarh-born batter is in the nineties.
“I hope Rahul Dravid doesn't declare when a player is in his 90s as a coach,” Kaif said, as he was referring to Dravid declaring when Sachin Tendulkar was 194 not out against Pakistan in Multan. India declared their first innings on 675/5 after Yuvraj Singh scored his fifty. As soon as the left-hander reached his milestone, Rahul Dravid called back the two batters to the dressing room, which left quite a few, including Sachin Tendulkar, surprised.
Talking about the decision, Sachin Tendulkar spoke about how Dravid was the captain and hence he assured that he wouldn’t interfere in any captaincy decision on the field. While writing in his book, Tendulkar wrote, "I assured Rahul that the incident would have no bearing on my involvement on the field, but off the field, I would prefer to be left alone for a while to come to terms with what had happened."
