Adam Gilchrist's decision against enforcing the follow-on in the first Test in Bangalore may have been inspired by the battering the Australians received in Kolkata in the 2000-01 series after imposing the follow-on. The decision may seem defensive to some and strange to others, but statistics reveal that it has brought laurels to the captains concerned on most occasions.

In fact, captains have been more successful while not enforcing the follow-on, though only marginally.

	Tests	Won	Lost	Drawn	Winning %
Follow-on enforced	260	198	3	59	73.88
Follow-on not enforced*	32	24	1	7	75.00

* entitled to do so.

The win and loss in the above table is with the perspective of the side imposing / not imposing the follow-on.

Ganguly can take solace from the fact that seven games were drawn (and one lost too) when the follow-on was not enforced. But there is a flip side too!

A detailed look at all 32 previous such instances discloses that Australia have won all five Tests where their captains did not impose the follow-on.

India, on the other hand, went on to lose on all five occasions when opposition captains decided to give their bowlers a rest rather than the opportunity to have another go at the Indians.

The only team to have lost a Test after not enforcing the follow-on is South Africa. Captain Dudley Nourse's decision backfired in the Test against Australia at Durban in 1949-50.

Instances when Test captains did not enforce the follow-on on India:

Lead	Opponent - Totals	India's Totals	Venue	Season	Winner	Opp.Captain
278	WI - 500 & 168-5d	222 & 151	Madras	1958-59	West Indies	Gerry Alexander
282	Eng - 490 & 265-8d	208 & 376	Manchester	1959	England	Peter May
206	Eng - 298 & 203	92 & 277	Birmingham	1967	England	Brian Close
236	Aus - 505 & 256	269 & 445	Adelaide	1977-78	Australia	Bobby Simpson
266	Eng - 487 & 301-6d	221 & 397	Lord's	2002	England	Nasser Hussain
228	Aus - 474 & ?	246 & ?	Bangalore	2004-05	to be seen	Adam Gilchrist

Instances when Australian captains did not enforce the follow-on:

Lead	Totals	Opp.Team-Totals	Venue	Season	Winner	Captain
380	Aus- 701 & 327	Eng- 321 & 145	The Oval	1934	Australia	Bill Woodfull
340	Aus- 619 & 394-8d	WI - 279 & 352	Sydney	1968-69	Australia	Bill Lawry
236	Aus- 505 & 256	Ind- 269 & 445	Adelaide	1977-78	Australia	Bobby Simpson
259	Aus- 426 & 248-8d	Eng- 167 & 323	Brisbane	1994-95	Australia	Mark Taylor
202	Aus- 479 & 217-6d	WI - 277 & 296	Brisbane	1996-97	Australia	Mark Taylor
228	Aus- 474 & ?	Ind - 246 & ?	Bangalore	2004-05	to be seen	Adam Gilchrist

Instances when follow-on was not enforced on Indian soil:

Lead	Team1	Team2	Venue	Season	Winner	Captain
278	WI- 500 & 168-5d	Ind - 222 & 151	Madras	1958-59	West Indies	Gerry Alexander
275	Ind- 583-7d & 148-5d	NZ - 308 & 252-2	Ahmedabad	1999-00	Drawn	Sachin Tendulkar
228	Aus- 474 & ?	Ind - 246 & ?	Bangalore	2004-05	to be seen	Adam Gilchrist

Country-wise break-up of instances when follow-on was not enforced:

Country	Tests	Won	Lost	Drawn
England	9	7	-	2
West Indies	7	6	-	1
Australia	6*	5	-	-
South Africa	5	2	1	2
India	2	-	-	2
New Zealand	1	1	-	-
Pakistan	1	1	-	-
Sri Lanka	2	2	-	-
Total	33*	24	1	7