Australia skipper Mitchell Marsh revealed that he was left in splits after watching Afghanistan bowler Gulbadin Naib's fake hamstring injury drama during the T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8 match at the Arnos Vale Ground in St. Vincent on Tuesday, June 25.
Afghanistan making it to the semifinal with a win over Bangladesh has been a talking point after the match. However, Gulbadin Naib's fake hamstring injury became a topic of debate as many accused the Afghanistan bowler of deliberately delaying the match to gain a strategic advantage over Bangladesh.
The incident took place in the 12th over when head coach Jonathan Trott signalled the players to slow down as the match was about to be interrupted by rain and Bangladesh were 2 runs behind DLS par score of 83. The match was stopped for a while due to rain in St. Vincent.
Speaking about the Gulbadin Naib's incident, Mitchell Marsh hilariously hailed it as funny and outstanding.
"One of the funniest incidents I have ever seen on the field. I was almost in tears laughing and at the end of the day it had no bearing on the game but it was funny. It was outstanding." Australia skipper said as quoted by cricket.com.au.
Bangladesh were chasing 115-run target when the rain interrupted the match twice. After the play was resumed for the second time, the target was revised to 114. However, Bangladesh failed to achieve the target as they fell 8 runs short of the target as they were bundled out for 105 in 17.3 overs Afghanistan bowlers, especially Rashid Khan (4/24) and Naveen ul Haq (4/26) did a brilliant job to help Afghanistan register a thrilling 8-run win over Bangladesh.
Naveen picked a final wicket of Bangladesh's tailender Mustafizur Rahman to propel Afghanistan to their first-ever T20 World Cup semifinal appearance
Australia's fate sealed after Afghanistan win vs Bangladesh
Australia's T20 World Cup 2024 campaign came to an end after Afghanistan pulled off thrilling win against Bangladesh. Mitchell Marsh-led side was already on the verge of getting knocked out of the tournament after 24-run defeat against India.
However, Australia were still in contention to qualify for the semifinal but had to rely on Bangladesh's win over Afghanistan. With Bangladesh getting defeated by Afghanistan, 2021 T20 World Cup winner was simultaneously exited from the tournament.
In the opening round of the tournament, Australia won all four matches and topped Group B with 8 points. In their first match of the Super 8, Aussies defeated Bangladesh before facing two consecutive defeats at the hands of Afghanistan and Team India.
