Incident that sparked allegations of fake fielding by Virat Kohli, what the rulebook says (WATCH)

New Delhi: In the high-voltage T20 clash between India and Bangladesh, the Men in Blue put up a good total of 184 runs however an equally valiant batting from the rival team made for a riveting match.

India got the better of Bangladesh in the crucial Group 2 match and consolidated its position as strong contender for the semis. With the match, Bangladesh’s hopes of entering semis were crushed while Pakistani fans also spent time on social media cursing Team India for winning the match.

While Team India celebrated victory, Bangladeshi cricketer Nurul Hasan raised allegations of fake fielding by Virat Kohli during the match and also blaming him for breaking the attention of Bangladeshi batters.

Hasan lodged a complaint complaining that Kohli was doing fake fielding to divert attention of rival side and demanded that India should be reprimanded and handed a 5-run penalty. Bangladeshi side lost to Team India by 5 runs in yesterday’s match.

#FakeFielding or not ???#Askthepavilion #PakVSa #NoBall pic.twitter.com/1Z25J8WVDV

— Muhammad Shehroz ?? (@Iam_Shehroz) November 2, 2022

From Bangladesh side, Litton Das was at his fiery fest. After game resumed post rains, Nurul Hasan hit some breathtaking shots. Later speaking to a news channel, he accused Virat Kohli of engaging in fake fielding and termed it as one of the reason for defeat. He even claimed that the incident got unnoticed and the cricket authorities must take note of it.

“Definitely, the wet outfield did have an impact when we restarted the game. But there was also a fake throw which could have got us five runs but we didn’t even get that,” Nurul said.

so, even if this did happen, none of the batsmen from bangladesh appealed for this fake fielding ?#FakeFielding #NoBall #ViratKohli? #INDvsBAN #T20WorldCup #Cheating #SuryakumarYadav #KLRahul? #RohitSharma? #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/Zl1qGNIto3

— mayank ranjan (@theranjanmayank) November 3, 2022

The incident happened in 7th over when Arshdeep threw the ball to the wicket-keeper. Kohli, who was standing in between, feigned towards the non-striker’s end while the ball never reached him.

Earlier, half centuries by Virat Kohli & Suryakumar Yadav helped India to set big target against Bangladesh but it didn’t prove unnerving for the rival team. The latter began chase with an excellent start and had the raingods not intervened, their opening pair looked consistent enough to shock the Men in Blue. Many Bangladeshi fans even vented their anger by claiming that it was the rains that saved Team India.

What the rulebook says

According to rule 41.5.1 of the cricket, “it is unfair for any fielder to attempt, to distract, deceive or obstruct either batsman after the striker has received the ball”.

However, it is upto the umpires to decide whether it was a willful attempt to distract of deceive. As the incident went unnoticed during match, this never reached the umpires.

Had the umpires caught Kohli doing ‘fake fielding’, there could have been chances that Bangladesh be awarded 5 runs and the match would have ended in a draw.