Team India on Wednesday defeated Bangladesh in a rain-curtailed yet thrilling match at the Adelaide Oval and bolstered their chances to qualify for the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final. In the rain-curtailed match, Team India won the match by 5 runs, however, after the match, Bangladesh player Nurul Hasan who remained not-out till the end accused Virat Kohli of doing 'fake fielding' and the on-field umpires should be given Shakib Al Hasan & Co a reward of 5 penalty runs. Addressing the media on Wednesday after India vs Bangladesh match, Nurul pointed out how umpires did not pay attention to Virat Kohli's fake fielding and how it ultimately costed them a cruicial match.
During the press conference, Narul said, "We all saw that it was a wet ground..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." Following Narul's statement, Virat Kohli fake fielding video went viral on social media, and fans were divided into their opinion.
In the Virat Kohli fake fielding video, it can be seen in the seventh over of 2nd innings, Litton Das played the ball toward the deep off-side field off Axar Patel. The ball went straight to Arshdeep Singh who threw the ball to the keeper, however, Kohli who was standing at point acted as if the ball was thrown to him and therefore he acted that he threw the ball to the non-striker end in order to outfox the batter running towards the keeper. At the time, it went unnoticed in the field as the on-field umpires, Marais Erasmus and Chris Brown, didn't take action, and the Bangladesh batters - Najmul Hossain Shanto was the other - didn't point it out.
Watch Virat Kohli fake fielding video
Dear @ICC it’s not fake fielding? pic.twitter.com/tbCXl7L49d
— Bipu Aslam (@bipuaslam) November 3, 2022
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What does ICC's law suggest?
As per ICC's Cricket's Law 41.5, pertaining to unfair play, prohibits the "deliberate distraction, deception or obstruction of [the] batter", and if an incident is deemed to be a breach, the umpire can declare that particular delivery as dead ball, and award the batting side five runs. However, in terms of Virat Kohli fake fielding case, True Scoop understands that the ruling, which needs to be made by the umpires in real-time, is about the attempt to deceive the batters, rather than them actually being deceived.
It is pertinent to mention here that Virat Kohli's act to outfox the batters was not successful. However, in the past, cases of fake fielding have indeed came into the limelight and it has also become successful. For instance, former Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangakara once pulled out a fake keeping when he outfoxed Pakistan's Ahmed Shehzad on a run-out. Not only this, but South Africa's Quinton de Kock last year also pulled out a fake keeping and successfully run out a Pakistani batter.