Credits:X
Gulbadin Naib, Afghanistan’s all-rounder, responded to Ravichandran Ashwin’s criticism on X (formerly Twitter) following allegations that Naib simulated a hamstring injury during their match against Bangladesh. Earlier today, Afghanistan faced Bangladesh in the final Super 8 match of Group 1, with India securing their place in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 second semi-final against defending champions England after defeating Australia.
Afghanistan, having secured the runner-up position to India in Group 1, are scheduled to face South Africa in the first semi-final. This match will kick off at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad, while India and England will compete at the Providence Stadium in Guyana for the second semi-final.
In this edition of the ICC T20 World Cup, as in previous tournaments, there have been numerous memorable moments. Today, during the Super 8 match between Afghanistan and Bangladesh, Gulbadin Naib provided one of the standout comedic moments of the tournament.
What did Gulbadin Naib do?
Ravichandran Ashwin reacts
Ravichandran Ashwin quickly took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote that Gulbadin Naib should be shown a red card for the offense. Often in Football, players fake their injuries to get sympathy from the referee and end up getting sent off. The India off-spinner wrote, “Red card for Gulbadin Naib😂😂😂” .
Gulbadin responds
Gulbadin Naib then responded to the tweet by saying, “Kabi khushi kabi gham main huta hai 🤣🤣 Hamstring 🤣” (Sometimes in grief and sometimes in happiness, the Hamstring pull happens).
Bangladesh were chasing down a 120+ target and the match was stuck in a tricky situation as they had lost more than half of their batters. The rain was also interrupting the game for which the target was also revised and therefore Afghanistan head coach Jonathon Trott was asking his players to slow the game down.
Trott was asking his players to delay things as they would have won even if the match had been abandoned. After seeing those instructions, Gulbadin Naib, who was standing at the slip cordon, appeared to be clutching his Hamstring and falling to the ground.
Gulbadin Naib was acting as if his Hamstring was in sheer pain and that he might not be able to continue playing in the match. It was clear from the get-go that Naib was faking his injury. Moments after that, the Umpire asked all the players to leave the ground due to rain, and the All-rounder was seen taken off by a teammate and medical staff.
He then returned to the Ground when the game resumed and even bowled an over wherein he took the wicket of Taskin Ahmed And when Afghanistan’s victory was confirmed, Gulbadin Naib went off and took sprints off the ground as if the pain disappeared.
