Adam Zampa accuses Afghanistan of cheating vs Bangladesh to deliberately knock out Australia

Australian spinner Adam Zampa has accused the Afghanistan cricket team of cheating during the Super 8 match against Bangladesh, played at Arnos Vale Ground, Kingstown, St Vincent.

The match had multiple rain interruptions, which affected the momentum of both teams. But during the 12th over of Bangladesh's innings, something unique happened when Gulbadin Naib went down on the field

Watch- Gulbadin Naib delivers a winning performance on the field, and Michael Vaughan and R Ashwin react

Gulbadin Naib suddenly goes down clutching his hamstring

In the 12th over of the game, allrounder Gulbadin Naib, who was standing at first slip, suddenly went down while clutching his hamstring. Seeing the rain and seemingly aware of the game situation, Gulbadin went down on the ground before being attended by the physio.

As they arrived, the covers were brought on the pitch. At that time, Afghanistan were two runs ahead of the par score. The match was stopped for around 10 minutes and the time lost prompted the officials to reduce one more over in the game after overs had been lost previously as well.

Even Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan wasn't too impressed with Gulbadin's tactics. Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott was seen on TV signaling the players to slow the game down. 

Gulbadin's act didn't go down well with the cricketing world, and he was called for delaying the game through his tactics. Many fans and former cricketers took a cheeky dig at the Afghan allrounder.

Adam Zampa accuses Afghanistan of cheating in the match against Bangladesh

After the incident, Australian legspinner Adam Zampa took a dig at Gulbadin Naib through his social media story. "The old rain string,” Zampa wrote on his social media story while referring to the rain string to the hamstring.

Many believed the result might have been different had Afghanistan not used such tactics to delay the game. But Afghanistan held its nerve in the end to seal a thrilling win over their Asian rivals.

Adam Zampa and the Aussies are clearly NOT happy with the apparent cheating that helped end their T20 World Cup 😡

MORE >> https://t.co/VyZo0cge2r pic.twitter.com/az7SDrHo7V

— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) June 25, 2024

Afghanistan make it to semi-finals, knock out Australia

Meanwhile, talking about the match, Afghanistan chose to bat first on a tricky wicket. Their openers struggled to get the timing throughout their innings. Despite an opening stand of 59, Afghanistan's middle-order batters couldn't capitalize and they were reduced to just 115-5.

Bangladesh's bowlers were right on the money as legspinner Rishad Hossain picked up 3-26 while Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman picked up a wicket each.

Chasing a modest target of 116, Bangladesh were rocked early by Afghanistan's opening bowlers Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen-ul-Haq. They were reduced to 32-3 but opener Litton Das held the fort at one end.

But the other batters disappointed Bangladesh. Only two other batters could reach the double-digit figures as Afghanistan kept chipping away. With 12 runs needed off 12 balls with two wickets in hand, Naveen-ul-Haq was tasked with bowling the penultimate over of the match.

Naveen picked up the remaining two wickets of Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman as Afghanistan won the thriller by 8 runs. Rashid Khan and Naveen-ul-Haq picked up four wickets each.

With this win, Afghanistan made it to their maiden ICC senior tournament semi-finals. They will face South Africa in Trinidad on June 27.