Fake fielding in cricket has been a rare occurrence, but of late has been extensively used by the modern-day fielders to confuse the batsmen. Sometimes the fake fielding even leads to a dismissal. In the ongoing Test match between India and Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens, we got to see one such incident in the 53rd over of India’s first innings.
Sri Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal, who was fielding at covers, put in a slide and faked as if he had the ball in his hold prevented the batsmen from attempting another run. Under the new ICC rules, this act comes under the purview of the fake fielding rule, and five runs are awarded to the batting side as a penalty.
However, on Saturday, the on-field umpires Nigel Llong, Joel Wilson decided against giving a penalty to the fielding team and just warned Chandimal which didn’t go down well with those in the Indian dressing room.
India skipper Virat Kohli was raging and visibly unimpressed with the decision from the on-field umpires. He also gestured asking for five penalty runs when the cameras’ zoomed at him.
Commentators unimpressed as well
Former Indian cricketers, Ashish Nehra and Virender Sehwag, who are in the commentary panel for the ongoing series, also wanted ICC’s penalty rule to be followed correctly.
The duo supported Kohli’s gesture and said that if a rule is made by ICC then why the rule was not followed. Umpires should take this into consideration even during Sri Lanka innings. If umpires have given Chandimal a warning then similarly Indian players should be warned for the first time if they do so, added Sehwag and Nehra.
