Afghanistan vs Bangladesh: Moments of incredible drama, from Gulbadin Naib playacting to Rashid Khan doing a Pollard

The Super 8 match, a virtual knockout, between Afghanistan and Bangladesh transcended beyond a game of cricket and entered the realm of supreme entertainment, worthy of blockbuster cinema. Right from the moment Rahmanullah Gurbaz put in a full-length dive off the first ball of the night at Arnos Vale Ground in St Vincent, just to complete a single, this match had all the elements of an all-time classic.

Afghanistan innings

Over 15.4: Craziest single of the tournament

How much are you willing to work for a single? Gurbaz tapped the ball to backward point and set off, then stopped halfway to turn back. But at this point, Omarzai also decided to keep going and both batters ended up running together towards the striker’s end. Rishad Hossain, however, missed the direct hit, and then both batters start to run – together, once more – towards the non-striker’s. Eventually, Omarzai stayed behind while Gurbaz ran through to complete a single. Utter chaos.

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Over 19.3: Rashid’s Pollard moment

We can’t be 100% certain if Australia pacer Mitch Starc and England’s assistant coach Kieron Pollard were watching this match, but if they were, they’d have made a trip down memory lane to May 2014 when the MI star got so angry that he wanted to throw the bat at the RCB man, before it eventually slipped out of his hand. Here, however, it was the Afghanistan captain doing so at his own teammate. After a helicopter shot failed to take off, Rashid was trying to scamper back for a second run to retain strike off the last ball.

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But Karim Janat wasn’t keen. Rashid lost his temper midway down the pitch and threw his bat at his partner in anger, before returning back. “I have never seen that before in any cricket!” came the booming voice of Ian Smith on air, the man who somehow finds himself describing some of the craziest moments in ICC events. However, Rashid would channel that rage off the previous ball to smash a massive six off the last ball of the innings, a shot that made a difference in the end.

Bangladesh innings

Over 7.6: The Trott rollercoaster

At the end of the 8th over in Bangladesh’s run-chase, the usually calm Jonathan Trott lost his cool in the Afghanistan dugout. Nabi’s over went for 12 runs as the Tigers showed glimpses of intent to chase it down in 12.1 overs. And head coach Trott kicked at something in disgust before entering the dressing room in apparent anger as Afghanistan were in trouble. It wouldn’t be the last time we saw Trott wearing his heart on his sleeve. He would stoically watch the ebbs and flows, sink to the ground as a ball sped away to a boundary, and later in the night he would be, after some dramatic moments in to follow, hoisted by his players with a big smile on his face.

Over 11.4: Naib’s Hall of Fame moment

It’s ironic that the man who has become quite popular for his muscle-flexing celebrations produced a moment that will be remembered for a long time by the cricket fans. After Rashid’s double strike in the previous over, Afghanistan had stolen a march on the DLS par score chart. The par score was 83 and Bangladesh were 81/6 as the rain started to get heavier. Trott realised what was up… he looked at the skies, then started yelling “slow it down, slow it down!” Naib got the message, and perhaps for the first time in history, a cricketer went down with cramps while stationary at first slip.

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Eventually, Naib’s little playacting didn’t actually matter because the rain got heavy enough for the players to walk off, but wasn’t heavy enough to cause a washout. But it produced a remarkable passage of play, something football fans have been witnessing for years. Spirit of Cricket debate kickstarted. Simon Doull wasn’t pleased on air. R Ashwin tweeted “red card for Gulbadin”. Social media exploded. Even Litton Das had a laugh with Mohammad Nabi as he feigned a limp when the players were walking off.

Absolute cinema, as the Martin Scorsese meme goes.

Of course, when play resumed, Naib came back to field after a short while, bowled a couple of overs, and picked up a crucial wicket too. And when Naveen picked up the last wicket, he joined his teammates in sprinting around the field, bringing an end to one of the most mind-boggling games of World Cup cricket.

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