IND vs BAN: Virat Kohli Gets Accused Of 'Fake Fielding' By Bangladesh During Tight T20 World Cup Game

Nurul Hasan has alleged that the on-field umpires overlooked an instance of Virat Kohli’s “fake fielding” that may have led in five potentially significant penalty runs for Bangladesh following Bangladesh’s five-run loss to India on Wednesday. 

In the seventh over of Bangladesh’s chase at Adelaide Oval, Litton Das played the ball off Axar Patel in the direction of the deep off-side field. Arshdeep Singh threw the ball, and Virat Kohli, who was positioned at point, pretended to be shy at the ball as it passed him.

The on-field umpires Marais Erasmus and Chris Brown didn’t do anything about it at the time, and neither did the Bangladesh batters (Najmul Hossain Shanto was the other).

Bangladesh Feels Unlucky As No Action Was Taken On The Alleged Fake Throw

After the game, Nurul spoke with media and brought up the issue. 

“We all saw that it was a wet ground,” Nurul said. “Eventually, when we talk about these things, there was also a fake throw. It could have been a five-run penalty. That also could have gone our way, but unfortunately, even that didn’t materialise.” 

The willful “distraction, deceit, or obstruction of [the] batter” is prohibited by Cricket Law 41.5, which deals with unfair play. If an incident is found to be a violation, the umpire can designate that specific delivery as a dead ball, and give the batting side five runs. 

Given that Arshdeep’s throw from the deep was intercepted by  Virat Kohli’s right hand as he indicated for a relay throw, the replay could be viewed as an effort at trickery on his part. ESPNcricinfo is aware that the decision, which the umpires must decide in real-time, concerns an attempt to trick the hitters rather than a successful trick. 

Virat Kohli And Shakib al Hasan Debate After No Ball Call

It was one of three instances that occurred during India’s tight victory over Bangladesh that brought attention to umpiring. The first incident occurred when Virat Kohli signaled a no-ball to umpire Erasmus after top-edging a pull toward the square leg in the 16th over of India’s innings because he thought Hasan Mahmud had bowled two bouncers in that over.

After declaring it a no-ball, Erasmus was forced to stand between Virat Kohli and Shakib Al Hasan, who had emerged from the covers. The two athletes engaged in conversation for almost 90 seconds before exchanging hugs and parting ways. 

After a rain delay at the end of the seventh over, when Bangladesh was on 66 for no loss and 17 runs ahead on DLS, the umpires approached Shakib near the dugout to discuss play restarting.  

Before proceeding to speak with the match officials, Shakib initially crouched down at the edge of the boundary to collect a sample of the soggy outfield. His opposite number, Rohit Sharma, entered the conversation, but Shakib’s angry body language suggested that he was not happy with the terms. 

Later, Shakib didn’t go into further detail during the post-game press conference. 

Also Read: IND vs BAN: Virat Kohli Breaks Sachin Tendulkar’s Record Of Scoring Most Runs On Australian Soil