Afghan cricketer Gulbadin Naib faces ban for faking injury

In the last match of Super-8 in the T20 World Cup 2024, Afghanistan defeated Bangladesh by 8 runs and made it to the semi-finals. This is the first time in the history of cricket that Afghanistan has made it to the semi-finals in an ICC event.

While Afghanistan is being praised all over the world for this victory, Gulbadin Naib is being heavily criticized for making a false excuse of injury. Now the question is that when everyone knows that he deliberately made an excuse of injury, can he be banned along with a fine?

In fact, during the batting of Bangladesh team, it rained again in 11 overs. On the fourth ball of the 11th over, Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott signaled from outside the field to play slow. On getting the signal, Gulbadin Naib fell down due to muscle strain and after this the match had to be stopped for a while. Then due to rain, the umpires stopped the match indicating covers. Jonathan did this because according to DLS at that time, Bangladesh was 2 runs behind. If the match had been washed out due to rain, Afghanistan would have won.

The interesting thing is that when the match started after the rain, Gulbadin was back on the field. Not only this, this player who had made an excuse of hamstring a while ago, also bowled his full overs comfortably. Gulbadin Naib is being heavily criticized on social media for this act. Along with cricket fans, many legends have also targeted Gulbadin.

What is ICC's rule regarding fake injury?

According to ICC's Code of Conduct, wasting time during the match is a Level 1 or 2 offense under Article 2.10.7. The maximum punishment for a Level 1 offense can be a fine of 100 percent of the match fee and two suspension points. In such a case, if a player gets 4 suspension points in a year, he can be banned for one Test or two ODIs or two T20 matches. Along with this, under Article 41.9, a penalty of 5 runs can be imposed for wasting the time of the bowler or fielder. The umpire has been given these rights, but nothing like this was done in this match.