The ongoing T20 Cricket World Cup is nearing it's end. Everything that has gone on in the tournament has gone in a smooth manner. There haven't been any hassles or any major incidents. However, that has all seemingly changed with a recent allegation that Afghanistan might have cheated.
The origin is the match between Afghanistan and Bangladesh. A win for the former would've led to a semi final berth and eliminating Australia. A questionable action by Afghan player, Gulbadin Naib, was made. The Afghan player appeared to suffer a hamstring injury but Australia star, Adam Zampa, quipped it was “the old rainstring."
The team's passage through to the next stage, however, was under serious threat after 11.4 rain-affected overs in the second innings, when the controversy erupted. Afghanistan narrowly led Bangladesh by two runs under the DLS system at the time when rain started to fall again.
Seeing the rain fall again in Kingstown and seemingly aware of the slender lead, Afghanistan coach and former England international, Johnathan Trott, gestured to his players to slow down in hope that umpires would stop play before another ball could be bowled.
Immediately after the Trott gesture, Gulbadin, standing stationary at first slip, inexplicably grabbed his hamstring and hit the floor, claiming to be badly injured. Afghanistan got their wish with the rain intensifying and the delay from Gulbadin ensuring another ball wouldn’t come.
If no play could continue, it would’ve confirmed Afghanistan’s progress over Australia then and there. Former New Zealand fast bowler, Simon Doull, in commentary, immediately questioned Gulbadin over the curious act.
He said, “Oh no no no, sorry. You can’t have this. I’m not accepting that. Even Rashid (Khan) doesn’t like it. It’s just delay tactics. I get it but I don’t like that at all. It is unacceptable. They might have gone off anyway for the rain but that’s not a good look. I know the Euros are going on in football, you’d be better off there."
To add more fuel to the fire, Naib was okay to bowl when play resumed. Former Zimbabwe cricketer, Pommie Mbangwa, was also aghast. He said, "I hate talking about the line but there are legitimate ways that you can go up to it and not necessarily cross it. What was good was how Skipper reacted to say, ‘look, mate, not in my team’. And you understand the kind of magnitude of the situation, the desire for the result. You’ll do whatever it is. It’s a competition and you’ve got competitive individuals out there who are trying to make sure that they end up on the right side of a result here. And that’s fair enough. So you compete that way, and you do everything within the laws and the spirit. The laws, if you go according to the laws, you’ll stay in the spirit. All right."
Afghanistan captain, Rashid Khan 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."
Reactions on social media of the incident haven't been positive. Former England captain, Michael Vaughn, wrote, "Great to see Gulbadin become the first cricketer in the history of the game to get a wicket 25 mins after being shot …." India all-rounder, Ravi Ashwin, wrote, "Red card for Gulbadin Naib😂😂😂."
According to cricket's governing board, the ICC (International Cricket Council) and their Code of Conduct, this would constitute a Level One or Level Two offence. According to section 41 of the ICC Playing Conditions for the 2024 T20 World Cup, "The umpires shall be the sole judges of fair and unfair play. If either umpire considers that any action by a player, not covered by these playing conditions, is unfair, he/she shall call and signal Dead bal, if appropriate, as soon as it becomes clear that the call will not disadvantage the non-offending side and report the matter to the other umpire. If this is a first offence by that side, the bowler's end umpire shall then summon the offending player's captain and issue a first and final warning which shall apply to all members of the team for the remainder of the match. And, warn the offending player's captain that any further such offence by any member of his/her team shall result in the award of five penalty runs to the opposing team."
Hence, even if the accusations against Gulbadin were proven to be true, the on-field umpires could have only punished Afghanistan by handing them a penalty of five runs but that wasn't an option at that moment in the game.
Furthermore, section 4.9 of the Playing Conditions for the tournament, which pertains to 'Time wasting by a fileding side', adds: "If either umpire considers that the progress of an over is unnecessarily slow, or time is being wasted in any other way, by the captain of the fielding side or by any other fielder, at the first intance the umpire concerned shall: If the ball is in play, call and signal Dead ball. Inform the other umpire of what has occurred. The bowler's end umpire shall then warn the captain of the fielding side, indicating that this is a first and final warning. Inform the batters of what has occurred."
Afghanistan won the match by 8 runs by the DLS method. Their quest for glory ended this morning when they were outplayed by South Africa in the 1st semi final. The Proteas won by 9 wickets and with 67 balls remaining.
I wouldn't count what happened as cheating. I see it more as time wasting. Time wasting isn't exactly a crime. Feigning an injury isn't a brilliant idea. It can set a really bad image and create negative reactions; case in point, this incident. Regardless of possibly making history, there shouldn't be room for what happened. Cricket should always be a gentlemen's game.