India registered a thrilling 5-run victory via DLS method over Bangladesh in their Super 12 match of the T20 World Cup 2022 in Adelaide on Wednesday.
However, former skipper and the man in form Virat Kohli drew controversy once again. Kohli (66 no, 44b) was adjudged man of the match for his fluent fifty (third in the tournament). But the flamboyant batter’s on-field action drew plenty of attention by cricket buffs on social media.
After losing the match, Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batsman Nurul Hasan claimed that the on-field umpires missed an incident of ‘fake fielding’ from Kohli, which could have resulted in five crucial penalty runs for Bangladesh.
The incident took place in the seventh over during Bangladesh’s run chase. When Litton Das played the ball towards the deep off-side field off Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh sent in the throw. Virat, who was standing at point, feigned a shy as the ball was going past him. At the time, it went unnoticed by the umpires in the field. The on-field umpires Marais Erasmus and Chris Brown didn’t take action over the incident. The Bangladesh batters Litton and Najmul Hossain Shanto also didn’t point it out.
“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,” Nurul said after the match.
As per, cricket’s Law 41.5, pertaining to unfair play, it is prohibited to ‘deliberately distract, deceive, or obstruct the batter’, and if an incident is deemed to be a breach, the umpires can declare that particular delivery as dead ball, and award the batting side five runs.