Fake fielding law is one of the intensive debate in the cricket world. While most of the current and former players seem to be against it, ICC (International Cricket Council) is no mood to withdraw the law.

Sometimes the fake fielding even leads to a dismissal. 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. The Fake Fielding controversy again raised during the 1st Test match between India and Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens.

On the Day 2 of the match, something happened that is not very common in the fields. It was the 4th ball of the 53rd over and Indian team was on the batting side and Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal indulged in an act called “Fake Fielding”. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was batting and he pushed the ball through covers and when he was coming back for the second run.

Dinesh Chandimal indulged in fake fielding even when the ball was nowhere near him. The instance left Indian Captain Virat Kohli visibly disturbed and he was seen angry. Virat even gestured towards the cameras for a penalty of five runs.

Even though it was a clear breach of the new ICC rules that call the act “Fake Fielding” and ensure penalty, the action was totally ignored. Team India later completed its innings at just 172 runs. Meanwhile, on Day 3, Sri Lanka was playing at 113/2 at the time of writing this article.

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Law 41 of the MCC rulebook which deals with the unfair play was amended and here is what it states:

41.5 Deliberate distraction, deception or obstruction of batsman

41.5.1 In addition to 41.4, 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.

41.5.2 It is for either one of the umpires to decide whether any distraction, deception or obstruction is wilful or not.

41.5.3 If either umpire considers that a fielder has caused or attempted to cause such a distraction, deception or obstruction, he/she shall immediately call and signal Dead ball and inform the other umpire of the reason for the call.  

On this occasion, although Chandimal was nowhere near the ball, he deliberately attempted to deceive the batsman by winding up for the throw. Although he didn’t complete it, since it was a willful attempt to deceive the batsman, the rule should have been applied.

41.5.6 The bowler’s end umpire shall

– award 5 Penalty runs to the batting side.

– inform the captain of the fielding side of the reason for this action and as soon as practicable inform the captain of the batting side.

41.5.7 The ball shall not count as one of the over.

41.5.8 Any runs completed by the batsmen before the offense shall be scored, together with any runs for penalties awarded to either side. Additionally, the run in progress shall be scored whether or not the batsmen had already crossed at the instant of the offense.

A similar incident had occurred in the recently concluded JLT Cup in Australia where Queensland Bulls’ Marnus Labuschagne was penalized for ‘fake fielding’. Dinesh Chandimal should have been the first fielder to be penalized for it in international cricket but got away with it.

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