Team Bangladesh accuses Virat Kohli of cheating

Bangladesh lost to India in Wednesday’s T20I World Cup match. Team India, led by Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul’s game-changing fielding attack that knocked out Litton Das, won the match by 5 runs.

However, Team Bangladesh feels that India won the match due to an oversight by the on-field umpires. It accused Virat Kohli of fake fielding at 6.2 overs. At that time, Bangladesh’s score was 62. Kohli happened to make a ball-throwing gesture toward the striker’s end even though the ball thrown by Arshadeep Singh was not in his hands. As per Bangladesh, the fake fielding should have resulted in a penalty and the awarding of 5 runs to Bangladesh. 

Here is what the ICC Law 41.5.1 says: “It is unfair for any fielder wilfully to attempt, by word or action, to distract, deceive or obstruct either batsman after the striker has received the ball.”

That said, Kohli can’t be said to have done fake fielding at all. As per sports commentator Sandeep Kumar Boddapati, Kohli wasn’t wrong, as the batters were not at a disadvantage. “They were not distracted and the ball was clearly visible to the batter running towards the striker’s end. No point of penalty here,” he adds. 

Kohli visibly knew that he didn’t need to catch the ball as Singh’s throw was going the right way without needing his intervention. He didn’t try to catch the ball and there was no attempt to distract the batsman.