Harsha Bhogle clears the air on the 'fake fielding' controversy surrounding Virat Kohli

Renowned Indian cricket pundit Harsha Bhogle has shared his take on the ‘fake fielding’ controversy that sparked off after the India vs Bangladesh, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 match. After India defeated Bangladesh by 5 runs via DLS method at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday, Bangladesh wicketkeeper batter Nurul Hasan accused Kohli of ‘fake fielding’ which went on to become the biggest talking point for the cricket world on social media. 

Fake Fielding controversy invoked by Bangladesh player

Meanwhile, Bhogle cleared all the air surrounding the fake fielding incident by claiming that no one saw it taking place. Explaining the fake fielding law, Bhogle tweeted, “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!”.

Following up his tweet, Bhogle said no one can complain about the wet ground, while also saying that umpires were fair to keep the game going as long as they could. “I don't think anyone can complain about the ground being wet. Shakib was right when he said it should favour the batting side. The umpires and curators have to keep the game going till it is not possible to do so. And they handled it very well so that minimum time was lost,” Bhogle added.

'Please don't look at fake fielding or wet conditions as a reason': Harsha Bhogle

Further explaining his take, Bhogle put out a message to the Bangladeshi players and fans, asking them not to look at fake fielding or wet conditions as a reason for not winning the contest. “So, for my friends in Bangladesh, please don't look at fake fielding or wet conditions as a reason for not reaching the target. If one of the batters had stayed till the end, Bangladesh could have won it. We are all guilty of it....when we search for excuses, we don't grow,” Bhogle said.

Nurul Hasan's claims about fake fielding

Meanwhile, as reported by PTI, making the accusations against the on-field umpires for not noticing the incident, Hasan said, “Definitely, the wet outfield did have an impact when we restarted the game. But there was also a fake throw which could have got us five runs but we didn't even get that”. As explained by Harsha, no one including the batters saw Kohli attempting for a fake fielding effort.