Shortly after Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott signaled at his players to slow things down during their do-or-die T20 World Cup match against Bangladesh, Gulbadin Naib, fielding at first slip, suddenly clutched his thigh and lay on his back on the turs looking in pain.
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The on-field umpire instantly reacted and called for the play to halt. As on cue, rain arrived and players of the two teams walked off the field. The incident happened right before Noor Ahmad was to bowl the fifth delivery of the 12th over with Bangladesh 81/7 in chase of 116.
Afghanistan needed to win to qualify for the semi-finals and at that particular moment, were ahead by two runs per DLS method.
Naib’s ‘fitness’ concern divided opinions with the Afghan cricketer being accused of acting against the spirit of cricket. India offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin quipped on X that Naib be handed a red card.
The match resumed soon and Bangladesh were given a revised target of 114 from 19 overs. Right before the start of 13th over, a fit-again Naib was also back on the field.
Afghanistan would go on to win the match by eight runs to create history.
Naib’s act was widely debated on social media and he later responded to Ashwin’s post with “Kabi khushi kabi gham main huta hai Hamstring”.
Later, he thanked Afghanistan team physio Prasanth Panchada for doing ‘wonders’ on his hamstring issue.
“Wonders can happen,” Naib wrote as he shared a picture with Panchada on Instagram.
Former New Zealand fast bowler termed Naib’s act as ‘unacceptable’.
“The coach sends a message out to say slow it down, slow it down and the first slip just dives on the ground needlessly. That is unacceptable. Gone off anyway. I get that might have gone off anyway for the rain,” said Doull while on air during the match.
Zimbabwean commentator Pommie Mbangwa quipped: “Oscar, Emmy?”.
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan tried brushing aside the controversy saying it didn’t make much difference.
“Well, he had some cramp, I don’t know what happened to him and I don’t know what’s going on in social media but that doesn’t matter….it’s not something that brought a massive difference in the game. We came back on field after five minutes and there was no massive difference. For me, it’s just like a small injury. Comes in, then you have to take some time.” Rashid said after the match.
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