Nurul Hasan accuses Virat Kohli of 'fake fielding'

Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batter Nurul Hasan said on Wednesday that the on-field umpires missed an instance of "fake fielding" by Virat Kohli during their five-run loss in a tense men's T20 World Cup match in Adelaide.

The unreported incident occurred in Bangladesh's sixth over of the chase when Kohli pretended to be relaying an Arshdeep Singh throw from the deep.  Neither the umpires, Marais Erasmus and Chris Brown, spotted it, nor did the two batters - Litton Das and Najmul Hossain Shanto - out in the middle.

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The "deliberate distraction, deceit, or obstruction of [the] batter" is forbidden under Law 41.5, which deals with unfair play. If a violation occurs, the umpire may rule that specific delivery to be a dead ball and provide the batting side five runs.

According to Nurul, the outcome might have been different if Bangladesh had won that decision. India beat the odds by five runs [DLS method], precisely the amount of the run penalty for false fielding.

Everybody could see that the field was wet, and finally, Nurul told reporters, "I felt like there was a fake throw while we were discussing, and it might have been a five-run penalty, and it could have gone our way, but regrettably even that didn't occur."

In addition, various umpiring choices in the Group 2 game were questioned. When Hasan Mahmud top-edged an attempted pull during the 16th over of India's batting, Kohli pointed out to the square-leg umpire that Mahmud had violated the one bouncer per over-regulation. Umpire Erasmus upheld the no-ball ruling, which caused Kohli, Shakib Al Hasan, and Erasmus coming together quickly.

Later in the game, Bangladesh appeared to be annoyed by having to resume their pursuit so quickly after a heavy downpour had saturated the ground. While the umpires discussed the playing conditions in the shortened game with the two captains, Shakib stroked the grass with his hand.

Shakib avoided discussing the issues during the press conference and stated that both teams played the game with good sportsmanship.

Fake fielding by Virat Kohli.
He can be a great batsman but cheater. Shame on you Virat Kohli.#ViratKohli #INDvsBAN#INDvBAN #cheating#umpire #ICC #Kohli pic.twitter.com/tWeZ0tym8R

— Abdullah BD Cricket Fan (@AbdullahBDFan) November 3, 2022