Gulbadin Naib and his Afghanistan teammates needed to overcome Bangladesh to secure their spot in the T20 World Cup semi-final but their narrow eight-run victory, via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method, has come under scrutiny following the incident when Gulbadin indicated he had cramp. Bangladesh had just fallen behind on DLS at 81 for seven in the 12th over, chasing Afghanistan’s total of 115, when Naib’s coach, Jonathan Trott, gestured from the boundary, apparently telling his players to slow the game down.
Footage showed Gulbadin, fielding at first slip, immediately fall over clutching his hamstring. The veteran player was subsequently helped off the field of play by his teammate Naveen-ul-Haq and a member of Afghanistan’s support staff as it began to rain in St Vincent. Niab appeared to have recovered enough, however, to celebrate his team’s eight-run victory later on.