Kingstown: Gulbadin Naib dramatically falling on his back, clutching his thigh after Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott signalled his players to slow things down in the T20 World Cup match against Bangladesh caused both amusement and annoyance as former players questioned the genuineness of his discomfort.
Naib, who was fielding in the slip cordon, complained of cramps during the 12th over bowled by spinner Noor Ahmad, after Trott was seen on camera asking his players to slow down as Bangladesh had fallen behind on the Duckworth-Lewis par score in the rain-hit Super 8 clash.
The match saw frequent rain interruptions and Bangladesh, at that stage, were 81 for 7, two runs behind on the DLS par score in a revised chase of 114 in 19 overs. Afghans eventually prevailed by eight runs to enter their maiden World Cup semifinal.
“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. Gone off anyway. I get that might have gone off anyway for the rain,” said Simon Doull while commentating.
Zimbabwean commentator Pommie Mbangwa quipped: “Oscar, Emmy?”.
Naib was given treatment and was taken off the field by teammate Naveen-ul-Haq and a support staff as it started raining again and players ran to the dugout.
“Kabi khushi kabi gham main huta hai (It happens sometimes when you are happy or when you are sad). Hamstring,” Naib later said in a post on X, dotted with laughing emojis.
This was in response to a tongue-in-cheek post by India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
“Red card for Gulbadin Naib,” Ashwin had said.
When play resumed after a short delay, the target for Bangladesh was revised.
Naib was soon back on the field in the 13th over with Najibullah Zadran substituting him briefly. The all-rounder also rolled his arms over and dismissed Tanzim Hasan in the 15th over to reduce Bangladesh to 92 for 8.
“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,” Afghan captain Rashid Khan said in the post-match media interaction when asked about Naib’s act.
“…it’s not something that 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.”
Social media was abuzz with players and fans reacting to the incident and the short video became a meme in no time.
Former England skipper Michael Vaughan wrote: “Spirit of cricket is alive & kicking… Great to see Gulbadin become the first cricketer in the history of the game to get a wicket 25 mins after being shot…”
Former New Zealand cricketer and commentator Ian Smith said: “I’ve a dodgy knee for the last 6 months, I am gonna see Gulbadin Naib’s doctor straight after the game. He’s the 8th wonder of the world right now.”
