Kohli accused of fake fielding by B’desh vice-capt

ADELAIDE: Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batter and vice-captain Nurul Hassan has claimed that the on-field umpires during their T20 World Cup match against India had missed an incident of “fake fielding” from Virat Kohli, which could have resulted in five potentially crucial penalty runs for Bangladesh. Bangladesh lost the rain-curtailed match by five runs.

The incident took place in the seventh over of Bangladesh’s chase when Litton Das took off for a run after playing the ball towards deep.

As Arshdeep Singh threw in the ball, Kohli—who was at point—feigned as if he was relaying the throw to the bowler. Neither the umpires, Marais Erasmus and Chris Brown, spotted it, nor did the two batters—Litton Das and Najmul Hossain Shanto. According to a report on ESPNCricinfo, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) operations chairman Jalal Yunus is said to have brought the matter to the umpires’ notice but Erasmus said he didn’t see it.

According to Law 41.5 of the unfair play section, it 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.

Hassan said that had the umpires noticed it, Bangladesh would have won the match. “You saw that we had to play in a wet outfield, but there was also a case of fake fielding which also didn’t go our way,” he told reporters after the match.

Kohli was involved in another incident earlier when he had gestured to the square-leg umpire about calling Hasan Mahmud for what he thought was the second bouncer of the over. Erasmus, the square-leg umpire, signalled a no-ball, prompting Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan to run towards Kohli to tell him something before they parted laughing even though it was clear it was no laughing matter.

Later in the game, Bangladesh were also looking unhappy in being asked to chase almost immediately after a sharp spell of rain had just stopped. Shakib was seen feeling the wet Adelaide Oval outfield with his hand, indicating he wasn’t happy with the playing conditions as he was speaking to the umpires and India captain Rohit Sharma.

When asked about it later during the press conference, Shakib said they were asked to get on with the game to which they didn’t object. “Nobody in our dressing room talked about fair or unfair,” Shakib said. “We wanted to play. We wanted to win. Everyone tried their best, but we came up short. It was a little slippery, the amount of rain it had had. But normally that suits the batting side rather than the bowling side. We should not make that an excuse.”