Virat Kohli Accused of Fake Fielding: Here's What Happened, ICC Rule

Virat Kohli is in good form in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022, but on-field troubles appear to be following him. After the match, Bangladesh batsman Nurul Hasan accused Kohli of "fake fielding" during their Super 12 encounter at the Adelaide Oval, which India won by 5 runs.

 India scored 184 in 20 overs, thanks to KL Rahul's blazing fifty and Virat Kohli's 64* off 42. Bangladesh got off to a blazing start, with opener Litton Das hitting a fifty off only 21 balls, the tournament's second-fastest half-century in Australia. However, Bangladesh's progress was halted as rain fell after the seventh over. In fact, Bangladesh was 66 for 0 at the time, considerably ahead of the Duckworth Lewis Stern (DLS) par total of 49. The game restarted after 30 minutes, with Bangladesh assigned a revised total of 151 in 16 overs.

On the fake fielding incident, the truth is that nobody saw it. The umpires didn't, the batters didn't and we didn't either. Law 41.5 does make provision for penalising fake fielding (the umpire still has to interpret it thus) but no one saw it. So what do you do!

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) November 3, 2022

Here's what happened:

Virat Kohli caused a stir with his "fake fielding" gesture just before the rain break. Litton Das hit a delivery to a deep point in Axar Patel's over and tried to take two runs. Fast bowler Arshdeep Singh pitched the ball to the wicketkeeper's end, and Kohli faked to toss to the non-striker's end. Arshdeep's throw did not result in a run-out, and the two Bangladesh openers completed the double, but Kohli's action resulted in 'fake fielding.'

Here is the viral video:

Nurul Hasan has claimed that the on-field umpires had missed an incident of "fake fielding" from Virat Kohli, which could have resulted in five potentially crucial penalty runs for Bangladesh.#T20WorldCup | #BANvIND pic.twitter.com/CmYX48LBjW

— Hammad Ahmad Butt 👨‍💼🇵🇰 (@HammyButt_) November 3, 2022

Also Read: Off Field Hero of India Team: Fans Hail India’s Throwdown Specialist Raghu Raghavendra, Know Why?

What ICC Rule say?

According to Cricket Law 41.5, players are prohibited from "deliberate distraction, deceit, or obstruction of the batter." If the action is determined to be in violation of the rules, the umpire has the power to award the batting side five penalty runs and declare the ball dead. This regulation was enacted in response to fielders purposely seeming to hold the ball in order to fool batters and prevent them from making extra runs.

Bangladesh would have received five penalty runs if on-field umpires Chris Brown and Marais Erasmus had felt Kohli's actions were a purposeful attempt to mislead the batter. The decision, however, must be made in real-time by the umpires.