Nurul Hasan, Bangladesh wicketkeeper-bat, said on Wednesday that the on-field umpires had missed an incident of "fake fielding" from Virat Kohli during their five-run loss in a tense men's T20 World Cup encounter in Adelaide.
The incident that went unnoticed took place in the seventh over of Bangladesh's chase when Kohli feigned as if he were 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.
Law 41.5, pertaining to unfair play, prohibits the "deliberate distraction, deception or obstruction of [the] batter", and if an incident is deemed to be a breach, the umpire can declare that particular delivery as dead ball, and award the batting side five runs.
Nurul told reporters had that decision gone Bangladesh's way it could have been a different scenario. India sneaked home winners by five runs [DLS method], the exact margin of the run penalty associated with fake fielding.
"Certainly the field was wet and it had an impact and everyone saw that and eventually what I felt is that when we were talking 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," Nurul told reporters.
Incidentally, the Group 2 encounter saw other umpiring decisions come under the spotlight. During the 16th over of India's innings, Kohli gestured to the square-leg umpire about Hasan Mahmud infringing the one bouncer per over rule after top-edging an attempted pull. Umpire Erasmus upheld the no-ball call leading to a quick coming together of Kohli, Shakib Al Hasan and Erasmus.
Later in the game, Bangladesh were also seemingly peeved by having to resume their chase almost immediately after a heavy spell of rain had left the ground sodden. Shakib was pictured running his hand through the grass while the umpires spoke to the two captains about the playing conditions in the curtailed game.
Shakib didn't elaborate on the incidents during the press conference and said the game was played in the right spirit by both teams.
