Afghanistan’s cricket team was at the centre of a cheating storm in their key Super 8s clash with Bangladesh at the T20 World Cup.
Afghanistan fielder Gulbadin Naib appeared to fake a hamstring cramp as a rain shower swept across the ground with his team holding a slender lead on the DLS countback.
The game resumed and Afghanistan won a thriller by eight runs to make the T20 World Cup semis for the first time – and knock Australia, who required a narrow Bangaldesh victory, out of the tournament.
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Afghanistan’s players celebrated wildly but their victory came after a moment of cynicism that appeared provoked by the team’s English coach Jonathan Trott, who signalled for his team to slow things down as Naib tumbled to the turf late in the Bangladesh innings.
Gulbadin Naib celebrates after dismissing Glenn Maxwell in an earlier game (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
As Naib laid on the ground he appeared to be admonished by his own capatain Rashid Khan, who was bowling.
Commentator Simon Doull seized on the incident and compared Naib’s dive to a footballer.
“Oh, no, no, no. Sorry. Can’t have this. I’m not accepting that,” Doull said.
“Not accepting that. Even Rashi doesn’t like it. I like that from Rashid Khan. He doesn’t like that play either.
“It’s just delay tactics. I get it, but I don’t like that at all. Bangladesh behind by two. 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.”
The incident prevented a ball being bowled and the players had to take a quick break as the covers came on.
“Might’ve gone off anyway for the rain. But that’s not a good look,” said Doull. “I know the Euros are going on at the moment in football, he’d be better off there.”
Former Australia rep Lisa Sthalekar added: “I know it’s always a gray area with the spirit of the game. Always a gray area, but it does not look good. Those pictures don’t add up.”
To make matters worse Naib was okay to bowl when play resumed.
Former Zimbabwe cricketer Pommie Mbangwa was also aghast.
“I hate talking about the line, but there are legitimate ways that you can go up to it and not necessarily cross it,”he said.
“What was good was how Skipper reacted to say, ‘look, mate, not in my team’. And you understand the kind of magnitude of the situation, the desire for the result.
“You’ll do whatever it is. It’s a competition, and you’ve got competitive individuals out there who are trying to make sure that they end up on the right side of a result here. And that’s fair enough.
“So you compete that way, and you do everything within the laws and the spirit. The laws, if you go according to the laws, you’ll stay in the spirit. All right.”
Social media came down hard on the Afghans.
Afghanistan will meet South Africa in the semis with India taking on England.
After losing to India by 24 runs, Australia needed Bangladesh to defeat Afghanistan, but not by more than 45 balls to spare, to progress to the last four.
In a bizarre match full of brief rain delays and fake injuries, Rashid was the star for Afghanistan in setting up a dramatic eight-run win on Duckworth-Lewis.
It comes just two days after Afghanistan scored a rousing upset of Australia to put them in the box seat to qualify for a World Cup semi-final for the first time.
But Bangladesh opener Litton Das threatened to cruel Afghanistan’s dream, carrying his bat with an unbeaten 54 in the Tigers’ total of 105 chasing a revised target of 114.
Rashid (4-23) and Naveen-ul-Haq (4-26) made sure Afghanistan didn’t fall short of the semi-finals as they did at last year’s ODI World Cup.
Earlier, captain Rohit Sharma smashed 92 from 41 balls to help India to 5-205 in St Lucia, before Travis Head’s 76 could only get Australia to 7-181 in reply.
“C’mon Bangladesh,” captain Mitch Marsh quipped after Australia’s earlier loss. “… India got the better of us. Ultimately they were the better team.”
Australia were always on the back foot at Daren Sammy Stadium. Rohit took charge when he helped crunch 29 runs from the third over of the game off Mitchell Starc, after the left-armer was recalled in place of spinner Ashton Agar.
Starc (2-45) wasn’t alone in copping punishment, with Pat Cummins (0-48), Adam Zampa (0-41) and Marcus Stoinis (2-56) all going at more than 10 an over.
In a brutal display of hitting Rohit smashed eight sixes and seven fours, clearing the boundary over cover and mid-wicket with a mixture of brilliant timing and sheer power.
Rohit’s 19-ball 50 marked the fastest ever against Australia, with his dominance clear in the fact India’s team score was 1-52 when he passed the milestone.
Only Josh Hazlewood was able to slow India down, appearing as if he was bowling on a different pitch with his 1-14 after removing Virat Kohli for a duck early.
Rohit Sharma hits one of his eight sixes against Australia. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Starc also did well to rebound late, bowling Robit with a yorker that hit both bat and pad on the way through. But by then, the damage was done.
Australia lost an edging David Warner in the first over of the chase for six, in what will be the veteran opener’s last international match.
Mitch Marsh offered hope of a captain’s knock with 37 from 28 balls, but the match swung when he was superbly caught by a jumping Axar Patel on the boundary.
Glenn Maxwell also threatened to provide Head the support he needed when he struck 15 off his first four balls, switch-hitting spinner Ravindra Jadeja.
But when he walked down the pitch at a Kuldeep Yadav (2-24) wrong’un on 20 and was bowled, Australia’s fightback took another hit. And while Head threatened to repeat his ODI World Cup final star turn against India from last year with powerful drives and pull shots, he was eventually caught trying to take on Jasprit Bumrah.
After the equation was at one stage 82 from eight, Australia lost 5-54 from that point on as none of their middle order below No.4 Maxwell fired.
Undefeated India will now face England in the second semi-final, after being knocked out by the defending champions at the same stage in 2022.
Afghanistan will take on perennial semi-finalists South Africa for a spot in the decider.