India beat Bangladesh in a rainy thriller at the Adelaide Oval in their Super 12 match at the ICC T20 World Cup earlier this week. It was a tough battle between the two rivals and a great match for cricket fans. Except for one tough stain. Apparently, the Bangladesh national team is angling for a complaint to the ICC after accusing India’s star player Virat Kohli of cheating.
In a bizarre sequence, Kohli was caught on video feigning a throw at the non-striker’s end despite the ball flying high from the deep. The rules in this case are clear. India should have been penalized by five runs, which is the exact margin with which they won in the end.
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Was it Fake Fielding?
Many will argue that Bangladesh is bitter because of the loss. The team doesn’t rank high among the ICC T20 World Cup favorites according to news portals such as Sportsadda com, while India is the current trophy favorite leader. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that Kohli cheated, yet none of the officials seemed to catch that moment.
The Indian cricket superstar had a tough match, yet managed to play a match-winning innings to give his team the nod. He made an unbeaten 64 on just 44 deliveries, showing his prowess in a match that could have gone either way before it. The play was stopped several times because of rain, and the apparent fake fielding incident has cast serious marks on India’s win.
But, the defeated team isn’t having none of it. Bangladesh cricket fans took to Twitter and other social media sites to beg the ICC to watch the incident and decide on the final result. The ICC has been mum so far, and that’s why Bangladesh’s cricket federation wants to take legal action.
What do the Rules Say?
The rules in this case are clear. Under cricket law 41.5, players should never deliberately ‘distract, deceit, or obstruct the batter’ in any way. Such practices are penalized by five penalty runs to the batting side. If the incident breaches the rule, a dead ball is declared.
Yet, none of this happened in the match between Bangladesh and India. It seriously hurt Bangladesh’s chances to advanced further in the ICC T20 World Cup, while giving India the wings it needed. The incident occurred in the seventh over of the innings, when Arshdeep Singh retrieved the ball and threw it back toward the striker’s end. Kohli was close to him and despite the ball flying high over his head, he feigned a throw at the non-striker’s end which wasn’t spotted by the referees.
Indian commentator Harsha Bhogle said that no one spotted the incident – not the referees or the callers. The five runs eventually proved to be just what India needed to defeat Bangladesh in the wet thriller. It remains to be seen if the ICC addresses the incident, but we think the bird’s already left the nest.
