Gulbadin Naib under scrutiny, may face heavy fine after dramatic Afghanistan win

Gulbadin Naib is one of the most talked about cricketers in the world right now and he has been trending on social media platforms since Afghanistan’s historic win to enter the T20 World Cup 2024 semi-final. For those who are unaware, Gulbadin Naib fell on his back, clutching his thigh after Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott signalled players to slow things down in the T20 World Cup match against Bangladesh. That is when the match started to get in the favour of the Afghanistan team. The move by Naib is causing amusement and annoyance as former players are questioning the genuineness of his discomfort.

Gulbadin Naib is now under scrutiny and he may face a heavy fine. As per ICC Code of Conduct, wasting time is a Level One or Level Two offence. If the match umpires officially report the incident to the match referee, Gulbadin Naib could be fined 100 percent of his match fees or get two suspension points.

To recall, 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.

(with inputs from PTI)