After facing a humiliating 10-wicket defeat in the first ODI, India beat mighty Australia by 36 runs in the 2nd ODI. Yesterday, India did well in every department of the game. Visitors invited hosts to bat in a batting-friendly pitch of Rajkot. Rohit Sharma (42) and Shikhar Dhawan (96) gave a good start to the team.
Afterwards, Virat Kohli (78) and KL Rahul (80) kept the momentum going and took India’s score to 340. KL Rahul has donned wicket-keeping gloves in absence of Rishabh Pant and yesterday he was demoted from no.3 to no.5 batting position. But the experiment turned out to be great and it seems he will again bat at no.5 position.
Rohit Sharma Fake Fielding
When defending the total, India got rid of David Warner early in the innings, thanks to the one-handed stunner of Manish Pandey. However, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne who was batting for the first time in ODI frustrated the Indian bowlers. The partnership even led Rohit Sharma to attempt a fake throw.
Marnus Labuschagne played a paddle sweep over keeper KL Rahul. Rohit Sharma acted like he has reached the ball and faked a throw. Both batsmen had to take a quick double and it could have led to confusion. Labuschagne even tried to point out Rohit’s fake throw but it was not noticed by the umpire.
— Kumar Sourav (@AdamDhoni1) January 18, 2020
Fake Fielding Law
Fake fielding is not considered within the spirit of the game as it is an offence under ICC’s law. Fake fielding simply means “fielder was trying to cheat batting side either to get their wicket or to save runs”. It has a 5-run penalty. Interestingly, Labuschagne was the first player to be penalised under the fake fielding law in 2017. During Australia’s domestic one-day match between Queensland Bulls and Cricket Australia XI, Marnus Labuschagne had tried fake fielding after which his team Queensland was penalised with 5 runs.