Fake fielding row explained: Why is Virat Kohli being accused of unfair play by Bangladesh fans and what does the law say?

Controversy in an India and Bangladesh cricket match seems only around the corner these days. India marched to the top of Group 2 after a tense five-run victory by DLS method against Bangladesh in the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 on Wednesday, November 2. Player of the match, Virat Kohli played a crucial knock of 64 not-out to help fire India to 184/6 in the game.

However, post-match comments by Bangladesh’s wicket-keeper batter Nurul Hasan highlighting how Kohli could’ve also cost India the game have opened up a debate for pundits and fans alike on social media platforms.

Speaking to reporters after Bangladesh's defeat, Hasan said, "Certainly the field was wet and it had an impact and everyone saw that and eventually what I felt is that when we were running there was a fake throw and it could have been a five-run penalty and that could have gone our way but unfortunately even that didn't come."

Hasan was referring to an incident that took place before the rain interrupted proceedings at Adelaide in the second innings. During the second delivery of the seventh over in the run chase, Litton Das pushed an Axar Patel delivery to the offside and called for two runs.

The throw from Arshdeep Singh was directed towards the keeper. However, Kohli, standing at Point in front of Dinesh Karthik, was seen making a gesture of collecting the ball and throwing it to the non-striker’s end despite not having the ball in hand.

Under section 41.5 of Cricket Laws titled - ‘Deliberate distraction, deception or obstruction of batter’ - such an offence can lead to five penalty runs if the umpires find the fielding side guilty.

Section 41.5.1 states, "It is unfair for any fielder wilfully to attempt, by word or action, to distract, deceive or obstruct either batter after the striker has received the ball."

Further section 41.5.2 reads, "It is for either one of the umpires to decide whether any distraction, deception or obstruction is wilful or not."

In this case, neither of the on-field umpires, Marais Erasmus and Chris Brown, seemed to spot the offence and it went unnoticed.

Hasan might possibly feel hard done by the miss because Bangladesh were slapped with a five-run penalty in their game against South Africa due to an ‘Unfair Play’ offence by the wicket-keeper.

Hasan had moved behind the stumps while Shakib Al Hasan was into his delivery stride which isn’t allowed as per the rule book and the Umpires awarded South Africa five penalty runs.

Kohli’s ‘fake fielding’ wasn’t the only controversy that the Indian batter was involved in at Adelaide as in the first innings there was also a no-ball decision in the 16th over which Shakib wasn’t happy about. Kohli was seen signalling to the Umpire Erasmus that Hasan Mahmud had bowled a second bouncer for the over, resulting in a no-ball.

Shakib shared a few words with Kohli following that decision but they eventually seemed to laugh it off in the middle and depart with a few pats on the back.

Shakib was also seen animatedly speaking to the Umpires when the decision to resume play immediately as the rains stopped at Adelaide was being made. The Bangladesh captain was seen kneeling down and taking stock of the wet conditions in the outfield, suggesting that he wasn’t too happy with the playing conditions.

Bangladesh were 17 runs ahead of the DLS par score when the rain interrupted proceedings but then lost momentum as they eventually slumped to a close five-run defeat.