[Watch] Gulbadin Naib fakes cramps after coach Jonathan Trott asks team to slow things down amid rain in AFG vs BAN clash

Gulbadin Naib faked cramps while fielding at slips when Afghanistan were ahead of Bangladesh on DLS score.

Afghanistan all-rounder Gulbadin Naib gave perhaps the funniest moment of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 when he faked cramps during the clash against Bangladesh in order to slow down the game with a rain break on the horizon.

Afghanistan eventually defeated Bangladesh by eight runs (DLS method) in their last Super 8 fixture in St Vincent to qualify for the semi-finals for the first time at a major ICC tournament.

This low-scoring match was marred by multiple rain breaks which made things interesting as Afghanistan needed a win to progress to the semi-finals.

During the 12th over of Bangladesh’s innings, as rain picked up pace and poured down heavily, Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott signalled his players to slow down the game, because, at that point, Bangladesh were two runs behind on the DLS score. So if the match had ended at that point, Afghanistan would have been the winners.

Seeing Trott’s signal, Gulbadin Naib, who was fielding at first slip, went down on the ground while clutching his hamstring. Naib didn’t move a bit for a while and held tight onto his hamstring. Commentator Simon Doull was not impressed with Naib’s antics and called out the player for faking a cramp in order to delay the game.

A medical staff member attended Naib and the umpires called for the covers as rain increased. Naib was then taken off the field by teammate Naveen-ul-Haq and a medical staff person.

Watch: Gulbadin Naib hilariously fakes cramps to delay the game

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When play resumed, Najibullah Zadran fielded as a substitute for Naib. However, he was back on the field, bowled the 15th over and dismissed Tanzim Hasan. Soon after Afghanistan’s victory, Naib was seen running in celebrations.

When asked about Naib’s apparent cramps, captain Rashid Khan said, “Gulbadin had some cramp, I think. Hopefully, he will be alright. But that wicket that he gave us was a massive one at that stage.”

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