After Afghanistan eliminated Australia from the T20 World Cup by defeating Bangladesh in a Super 8 match, there's been discussion about the 'Spirit of Cricket'. This was sparked by Gulbadin Naib's dramatic fall during the match to delay play as rain began to fall.
Afghanistan's historic eight-run victory over Bangladesh sealed their first-ever semifinal spot in the tournament, sending both Australia and Bangladesh home.
Despite criticism from players like Adam Zampa about Gulbadin Naib's apparent injury, Australian captain Mitch Marsh called the incident "one of the funniest things I've ever seen on a cricket field."
"I was almost in tears laughing, and in the end, it didn't affect the game," Marsh said, as quoted by cricket.com. "We can laugh about it now, but wow, it was funny. Gulbadin Naib did a fantastic job."
Bangladesh was chasing 115 in a rain-affected match with two interruptions due to bad weather. They were initially ahead of the DLS par score but fell behind by two runs in the 12th over when rain returned, reducing the target to 114 runs with one fewer over. Just before the break, Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott saw signalling to slow down the game to maintain their advantage over the DLS par score, coinciding with Gulbadin Naib's fall.
Afterwards, Afghan players joked about the incident on social media. Gulbadin Naib posted a photo with the team physiotherapist, captioned "Wonders can happen."
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan played down the controversy, stating, "He had a bit of cramp... it doesn't matter."