- Australia has been eliminated from the T20 World Cup
- The Afghan cricketer has been criticized for feigning an injury
- The Afghanistan coach had given his team the signal to postpone the action
Australia’s Twenty20 World Cup campaign has ended in extraordinary fashion after Big Bash League hero Rashid Khan took Afghanistan to a historic semi-final.
The match also had its share of controversy, with Afghan player Gulbadin Naib claiming he cheated after appearing to suffer a peculiar injury.
After losing to India by 24 runs, Australia needed Bangladesh to beat Afghanistan, but not with more than 45 balls to spare, to progress to the last four.
In a bizarre match full of short rain delays and questionable tactics, star spinner Khan was the hero for Afghanistan in setting up a dramatic eight-run win over Duckworth-Lewis.
However, many have questioned Afghanistan’s unsportsmanlike actions, who appeared to feign an injury to waste time.
As rain closed in during the match, Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott signaled to his players to slow down, clearly hoping the game would be stopped.
Immediately afterwards, Gulbadin Naib, who was playing at first slip, fell backwards clutching his hamstring and claimed to be badly injured.
Had the game not been allowed to go ahead at this stage, Afghanistan would have progressed to the Aussies semi-final.
Afghanistan are through to the final of the T20 World Cup with a historic victory over Bangladesh
‘Oh no no no, sorry. You can’t have this,” said commentator Simon Doull.
‘I don’t accept that.
“Even Rashid (Khan) doesn’t like it.
‘It’s just a delaying tactic. I get it, but I don’t like it at all. It’s unacceptable.
‘Maybe they left because of the rain, but that doesn’t look good.
‘I know the European Championship is going on in football, you would be better off there.’
It comes just two days after Afghanistan scored a thrilling defeat to Australia to qualify for a World Cup semi-final for the first time.
But Bangladesh opener Litton Das threatened to cruel Afghanistan’s dream, carrying his bat with an unbeaten 54 in the Tigers’ total of 105, chasing a revised target of 114.
Adelaide Strikers stars Khan (4-23) and Naveen-ul-Haq (4-26) ensured that Afghanistan were not left behind in the semi-finals as they did in the ODI World Cup last year.
Earlier, captain Rohit Sharma hit 92 off 41 balls to help India to 5-205 in St Lucia before Travis Head’s 76 in reply could only get Australia to 7-181.
The victory means that Afghanistan will play South Africa in the first semi-final
“Come on Bangladesh,” captain Mitch Marsh joked after Australia’s earlier defeat.
‘…India has gained the upper hand. In the end they were the better team.’
Australia was always in the background at Daren Sammy Stadium.
Rohit took charge when he helped score 29 runs from the third over of the match off Mitchell Starc after the left-armer was recalled in place of spinner Ashton Agar.
Starc (2-45) wasn’t the only one to take punishment, with Pat Cummins (0-48), Adam Zampa (0-41) and Marcus Stoinis (2-56) all going for more than 10 per over.
In a brutal display of hitting, Rohit hit eight sixes and seven fours, smashing the boundary over cover and mid-wicket with a mix of brilliant timing and sheer power.