Gulbadin Naib came under the spotlight during Afghanistan's historic victory over Bangladesh in the 2024 T20 World Cup yesterday, when he was struck down with cramp at a crucial and convenient point in the game. Here's what the laws say about time wasting.
Naib's apparent bout of cramp came just as Bangladesh had fallen behind the par DLS score in the chase, with rain threatening to cut the game short. A win would have sent Afghanistan through while, at that point, defeat would have seen Australia qualify. Afghanistan had scored 115-5 batting first, and had just taken Bangladesh's seventh wicket with the score on 80. In the following over, after three consecutive dot balls from Noor Ahmad, Bangladesh fell behind the DLS total. After the fourth ball of the over, Gulbadin, who was standing at first slip, fell to the ground, seemingly suffering with cramp. Shortly after he went down, the covers were brought onto the field as the rain began to fall. Bangladesh were behind the par score by two runs.
To add into the controversy, moments before Naib went down, Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott was seen on camera signalling to the players to slow the game down. While the players were only off the field for ten minutes before the covers were removed and play was able to continue, the chase was shortened by an over due to the delay. The target was reduced by two runs to 114.
Gulbadin did not initially rejoin the field after the break in play but did come back on in the 13th over. He then bowled the 15th over and dismissed Tanzim Hasan. When asked about the incident after the game, Rashid Khan said: "He [Naib] 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 not something that brought a massive difference in the game. We came back on field after five minutes and there was no maddive difference."
However, the incident was put under scrutiny from several notable voices. On commentary at the time, Simon Doull said: "Oh no no no sorry, you can't have this. I'm not accepting that... It's just delay tactics. I get it but I don't like it at all, it's unacceptable."
On Instagram, Adam Zampa shared a story with a picture of the incident, writing "the old rainstring".
Australia were knocked out of the competition by Afghanistan's victory, pushed down into third place in Group One.
Adam Zampa and the Aussies are clearly NOT happy with the apparent cheating that helped end their T20 World Cup 😡
— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) June 25, 2024
MORE >> https://t.co/VyZo0cge2r pic.twitter.com/az7SDrHo7V
The ICC Playing Conditions for the 2024 T20 World Cup, under section 41 'Unfair Play' state: "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."
Thus, even if Naib's actions were judged as disingenuous by the umpires, it would have only resulted in a warning. Penalty runs were not an option at that point, as some suggested.
Additionally, under section 41.9 of the ICC T20 World Cup Playing Conditions 'Time wasting by a fileding side', the conditions state: "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 occured.
"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 occured."
However, under the ICC Code of Conduct, time wasting is specified as a Level One or Level Two offence, for which the punishment can be a fine of up to 100 per cent of a player's match fee, or up to two suspension points. Thus, Naib could still face a sanction if the umpires report the incident as time wasting to the match referee.
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