Team India supporters have lashed out at Bangladesh following claims of cheating levied on Virat Kohli by their wicketkeeper-batter Nurul Hasan. The Bangladesh cricketer accused the maestro Virat Kohli of “fake fielding” after his team lost to the Rohit Sharma-led team in a crucial Group 2 fixture at the Adelaide Oval in the T20 World Cup on Wednesday.

The incident happened to have taken place in the seventh over the Bangla Tigers' run chase. With Bangladesh chasing India's steep total of 184, Litton Das was going all guns blazing, smashing the opposition's bowlers all over the park. In the process, Litton Das struck a shot in the deep and as Arshdeep Singh threw the ball back toward India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik, Virat Kohli, who was fielding at point, feigned to have collected it before taking a shot at the non-striker's end.

But as nobody noticed the controversial episode, the on-field umpires, Chris Brown and Marais Erasmus, didn't take any kind of action.

However, the decision of the umpires left Nurul Hasan fuming who subsequently raised the matter in his interaction with the media after the game.

“We all saw that it was a wet ground,” Nurul Hasan said. “Eventually, when we talk about these things, there was also a fake throw. It could have been a five-run penalty. That also could have gone our way, but unfortunately, even that didn't materialise.”

Notably, Nurul Hasan's allegations against Virat Kohli came across as false, per the ICC's rules.

According to cricket's global governing body, the umpires can levy a five-run penalty on the opposition team if a player or a group of players are seen making a deliberate attempt to distract, deceive, or obstruct the batter of a batting side.

In Virat Kohli's case, multiple videos showed that he neither “distracted nor deceived or obstructed” any Bangladeshi batsman.

And once it became evident that Virat Kohli had done nothing wrong, the criticism of the Bangladeshi team grew louder and louder, even evoking a response from cricket expert Harsha Bhogle.

Speaking about the controversy on Twitter, Harsha Bhogle took a jibe at the Shakib Al Hasan-led side as he declared that the row was created just to divert attention from their defeat to India.

“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,” Harsha Bhogle tweeted.

Harsha Bhogle further said, “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!”

Meanwhile, Indian cricket team's admirers were much more scathing in their remarks.

“Why didn't the batsmen raise it with the umpires then and there itself like Kohli does for no balls and wides? Stop crying, you would have lost the match even if you had gotten 5 runs at that point of time. BD is crying just because the margin they lost is 5 runs,” a Indian fan posted on the microblogging website.

“This isn't even fake fielding. It's just the reflexes. When we anticipate something and it doesn't happen we just carry on with the reflexes. What a waste of cricketing fans some people are,” another added.

“Those who trend fake fielding must realise that 2 million of their countrymen have fake Aadhaar and fake voter ID in India,” a third claimed.

“Before lamenting, please read about the entire law concerning fake fielding. Kohli wasn't wrong there, batters were not at a disadvantage, they were not distracted and the ball was clearly visible to batter running towards striker's end.  No point of penalty here,” a fourth concluded.

“Since when did fake fielding become an issue in cricket? It's all part of the game. 9/10 times it never works + keeps the batters more alert. BCB should rather be grateful. This has become a trend now, BCB just needs a scapegoat for their loss. They didn't want to come out & bat,” a fifth mentioned.

“To say that Kohli had done fake fielding after 24 hours of the end of the match is exactly like the snake has left, just beating his Nissan,” a sixth declared.

“Kabhi #FakeFielding , Kabhi #NoBall ,Kabhi #wideball!! @TheRealPCB @BCBtigers it would be better if you guys focus on playing cricket rather than making unnecessary excuses.
These controversies are definitely not what this great game of cricket deserves,” a seventh noted.

“If world wants to learn how to make infinite number of excuses, they must go and apply in Pakistan and Bangladesh school of excuses. Only Bangladesh and Pakistan cried when they lost to India  Matlab kuch bhi,” an eighth summed up.