Gulbadin Naib’s heroic display on Sunday, in which he picked up four wickets for just 20 runs and grabbed a stunning catch, saw Afghanistan stun Australialeaving them in a precarious situation in the race to succeed T20 World Cup semi final. Two days later, the all-rounder was accused of cheating during Afghanistan’s victory against Bangladesh in the final match of the Super Eight, which saw Australia eliminated from the tournament. While the unacceptable act sparked hilarious memes on social media, it left Australian cricketer Adam Zampa furious.
After defeats against Afghanistan and India, Australia’s chances of qualifying for the semi-finals hinged on Bangladesh beating Afghanistan, albeit by a small margin, while for Rashid’s men Khan, who recorded one win and one loss in the first two matches of the Super Eight, one win was enough to help them get through.
Afghanistan ultimately won the rain-affected see-saw match, although they were restricted to just 115 for five. Litton Das scored a fighting half-century to keep Bangladesh in the competition despite being officially knocked out after failing to chase down the target in 12.1 overs, but lacked support as Rashid picked up four wickets quick after the second rain delay and bent the Tigers for 105 in 17.5 overs.
On their way to victory, Afghanistan found themselves in trouble in Bangladesh’s round of 12 match when controversy erupted. As Kingstown witnessed a light drizzle for the third time during the match, Afghanistan head coach and former England international Johnathan Trott was seen gesturing to the players to “slow down” while pointing towards the sky. Afghanistan were narrowly ahead of the normal DLS score and so a victory would have been avoidable even if the rest of the match had been called off.
Seconds after Trott’s move, Gulbadin, who was motionless at the first slip, inexplicably clutched his hamstring and fell to the ground, pretending to be injured. Captain Rashid was not at all happy with this act, nor were the commentators, some of whom were furious while others were divided. Afghanistan finally got their wish as Gulbadin’s action ensured that another ball would not arrive.
“Oh no no no, sorry. You can’t have that,” former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull said on air. “I don’t accept that. Even Rashid (Khan) doesn’t like Not that. It’s just a delaying tactic, I understand, but I don’t like it at all. It’s unacceptable. They might have left anyway because of the rain. good idea.”
Play, however, resumed a few minutes later and Gulbadin was back on the field, picked up a wicket and was then seen joining other Afghan players in their wild celebrations after reaching the semi-final.
After Afghanistan’s victory, which saw Australia eliminated, Zampa took a brutal dig at Gulbadin in his Instagram post by sharing a glimpse of the incident and captioning it: “The old rain thread.”
Former England captain Michael Vaughan also joined Zampa, tweeting: “Great to see Gulbadin become the first cricketer in the history of the game to get a wicket 25 minutes after being felled…”
Afghanistan will face South Africa in the first semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2024 on June 27 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy.