Afghanistan’s captain Rashid Khan (left) embraces teammate Gulbadin Naib as they celebrate after defeating Bangladesh by eight runs in their T20 World Cup cricket match at Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. (AP Photo)
After Afghanistan showed Australia the exit door of the ongoing T20 World Cup by defeating Bangladesh in a Super 8 match, there has been plenty of talk about the ‘Spirt of Cricket’. This was ignited by Gulbadin Naib’s theatrical mid-match fall to stall for time as rain started to fall in the critical Super 8 game between Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Afghanistan’s historical eight-run win over Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup game on Monday sealed their maiden semifinal berth in the tournament, but sent Australia and Bangladesh home.
Even as players like Adam Zampa took potshots at Gulbadin Naib‘s apparent hamstring injury, Australian cricket team captain Mitch Marsh has labelled the incident as “one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen on a cricket field.”
“I was almost in tears laughing and at the end of the day it had no bearing on the game,” Marsh was quoted as saying by cricket dot com. “So we can laugh about it now – but gee, it was funny. It was outstanding (from Gulbadin Naib).”
Bangladesh were chasing 115 in a rain-interrupted game where there were two stoppages due to inclement weather. Bangladesh were ahead of the DLS par score at one stage but only to fall two runs behind in the 12th over as rain made another appearance and cut the 115-run target to 114 with a reduction of one over. The incident happened shortly before the break, when Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott was seen gesturing at his players to slow down the game to maintain their lead over the DLS par score. Gulbadin Naib went down right then.
The Afghan players also joked about the incident afterwards on social media. Gulbadin Naib posted a photo with the team physiotherapist captioned “wonders can happen”.
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan had downplayed the controversy, stating, “He had some cramp… that doesn’t matter.”
Get latest updates on T20 World Cup along with live score updates for all matches.
