"There was no massive difference" Rashid Khan responds to cheating accusations against Gulbadin Naib's fake cramps

Rashid Khan has given his take on Gulbadin Naib’s apparent cramps during Bangladesh’s innings.

Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan has finally spoken on the “fake cramps” controversy sparked by teammate Gulbadin Naib during their encounter against Bangladesh in the Super 8 round at St Vincent.

Afghanistan defended a low total of 115 to win by eight runs (DLS) and secure their place in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 semi-finals, knocking out Australia and Bangladesh together. The match was interrupted multiple times by rain and thus the DLS scores kicked in, which made it exciting for the viewers.

Naib has been accused of faking cramps during Bangladesh’s innings to attempt to delay the match when Afghanistan were slightly ahead on the DLS total with the rain getting heavier. During the 12th over, when he was standing at first slip, Naib went down on the ground clutching his hamstring after seeing coach Jonathan Trott’s signal to delay the game.

He lay flat on the ground for a while before being attended by a medical staff person. Soon, the umpires called for the covers and asked the players to leave as the rain picked up pace. At that point, Afghanistan were two runs ahead on the DLS score and would have won the match if no more play was possible. But after a brief break, the rain stopped and play resumed.

An over later, Naib was back on the field and even bowled and took the wicket of Tanzim Hasan. Soon after Afghanistan secured the victory, Naib was seen sprinting in celebration.

I don’t know what happened to him: Rashid Khan

In the post-match press conference, Rashid Khan was asked about Naib’s antics. Rashid denied that those were fake cramps.

He said, “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 just the end field injury which comes and then we haven’t lost any overs, the rain came and we just went off, it’s not something like 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.”

Afghanistan will play South Africa in the semi-final on June 26 in Trinidad.

For more updates, follow Khel Now Cricket for IPL 2024 Live Score & IPL Points Table,  on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.