Gulbadin Naib's act of faking injury divided opinions in the cricketing fraternity.
The incident stirred controversy as moments earlier Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott was signalling his players to slow down the proceedings with rain around the corner.
At 81/7, Bangladesh were behind on DLS Method. No further play from that point on would have ensured a semi-final spot for Afghanistan.
The play was stopped as Naib, positioned at first slip, received treatment. As the rain eventually interrupted play, he was seen helped off the field.
The rain delay proved brief and Gulbadin Naib returned to field once play resumed. He went on to bowl the 15th over as well.
Naib’s antics of faking injury divided opinions with the Afghanistan cricketer being accused of damaging the spirit of cricket. India off-spinner R Ashwin joked on X that Naib should be handed a red card.
After Afghanistan won the dramatic rain-affected match by 8 runs (DLS method) against Bangladesh, Gulbadin Naib responded to Ashwin’s post with “Kabi khushi kabi gham main huta hai Hamstring”.
Later, Naib also thanked the Afghanistan team physio Prasanth Panchada for doing ‘wonders’ on his hamstring issue.
"The coach sends a message out to say Slow it down, Slow it down and the first slip just dives on the ground needlessly. That is unacceptable. Gone off anyway. I get that might have gone off anyway for the rain," Doull said on-air.
Another commentator Pommie Mbangwa saw the funny side of it and quipped: “Oscar, Emmy?”.
Following the match, Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan played down the controversy by saying it didn’t make much difference.
“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 not something that 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,” Rashid said in the post-match presser.