Gulbadin Naib was accused of faking injury to waste time before taking a wicket that helped secure Afghanistan’s first ever World Cup semi-final, eliminating Australia and sparking scenes of joy in Kabul.
Afghanistan needed to beat Bangladesh to take their place in the World Cup semi-final at Australia’s expense – and they won a rain-affected classic in St Vincent to set up a last-four clash with South Africa.
Afghanistan’s eight-run win (using the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method) was not without controversy, however.
Bangladesh had stumbled to 81 for seven in the 12th over, in response to Afghanistan’s 115. With rain starting to fall, Afghanistan’s head coach Jonathan Trott, the former England batsman, was seen on the boundary telling his players to slow the game down in the hope that the umpires would take the players from the field. Afghanistan, at that point, were ahead on DLS.
Veteran Gulbadin, fielding at slip to the spinner, took Trott’s instruction very literally, and suddenly fell to the ground clutching his leg, appearing to feign a hamstring injury. Moments later, the players were being taken from the field, with Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan appearing unhappy with his player’s behaviour, and Bangladesh batsman Litton Das mocking Gulbadin.