Veteran Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi is not thinking about hanging up his international boots soon and hopes to continue playing for the country till the 2026 T20 World Cup, scheduled to be hosted jointly by India and Sri Lanka. Nabi, who is leading Dambulla Sixers in the ongoing Lanka Premier League (LPL), wants to prolong his international career in the T20Is. The 39-year-old has planned to take a call on his ODI future after the Champions Trophy, adding that he wants to bid adieu the international cricket following the next T20 World Cup.

“For how long do I want to continue my cricket? Still, my body is working and I am running fast. I am fielding in the boundary taking catches well and doing bowling well. Still, I am doing well and I am trying to keep myself (fit) for as long as possible,” Cricbuzz quoted Nabi as saying on Friday.

“Afghanistan team needs me as well at this stage but still may be Champions Trophy will be my last Champions Trophy in 50-over (format) and after that maybe one year and that’s it,” he said adding that he is keen to end his career with the next edition of ICC T20 World Cup.

“Hope so (about playing in the next T20 World Cup). If I am selected I will have to play,” he said.

Nabi, who has been regarded as one of the strong pillars of the Afghanistan cricket team since making his debut in 2009, acknowledged the fact of getting old and highlighted his commitment to staying fit by sticking to a clean diet.

“I am not young as I am 40 years old man. Still, I try my best to train hard and do my recovery as quickly as possible and it all depends on your food and how you eat. How you eat clean and good food as it makes you more fit,” said the veteran.

The 39-year-old added that franchise cricket exposure to Afghanistan players helped them a lot in the recent historic semi-final finish in the T20 World Cup.

“It gives us a lot of experience and also brings that experience to the national team and we share it with the youngsters. Afghanistan’s T20 performance (in the World Cup) was really good. We beat big teams in the tournament.

“Yeah, first time in the semifinal and the tough four and that was a great achievement in my cricket life and hopefully more to come. As a team, we played and performed in the World Cup and everyone contributed a lot in this World Cup,” he concluded.

It’s been more than a week since India defeated England in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup in Guyana, avenging their 10-wicket defeat to the same side two years back at the same stage. The Rohit Sharma-led side also defeated South Africa last Saturday to clinch the T20 World Cup title in Barbados. Following Afghanistan’s crushing loss to South Africa in the other semi-final, former England captain Michael Vaughan had accused the organisers for favouring India, questioning the scheduling of the tournament.

Vaughan took to social media to highlight that the Afghanistan players had faced a flight delay while travelling to Trinidad, having played their final Super Eight match of the tournament a day prior.

He also lashed out at the ICC for disrespecting Afghanistan, while also putting the blame on the alleged India-centric scheduling.

“So Afghanistan qualified for the WC semi, winning in St Vincent on Monday night .. 4 hr flight delay on Tues to Trinidad so no time to practice or get accustomed to a new venue .. utter lack of respect to players, i am afraid,” Vaughan had written in a post.

Now, former India head coach Ravi Shastri has given a befitting reply to Vaughan over his allegations of the tournament being rigged for India, as far as the scheduling is concerned.

During a recent interaction, Shastri took a jibe Vaughan, questioning if his “colleague” ever lifted a World Cup trophy.

“Michael Vaughan can say what he wants. Nobody in India cares. Let him sort out the England team first. He should give advice on what happened to the England team in the semifinal. India are used to lifting Cups. I know England have won twice, but India have won four times. I don’t think Michael’s lifted a Cup ever. So think twice. He is a colleague of mine, but that’s my answer to him,” Shastri told Times Now.

Speaking on Suryakumar’s much-debated catch in the final, Shastri silenced the haters, saying: “Sour grapes. And go and check the record books after five years. The name India will be engraved on it.”

Doha, Qatar:

Taliban authorities were told women must be included in public life, UN Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo said on Monday as she defended a decision to sideline civil society groups at official talks in Doha.

Rights organisations have strongly criticised the controversial UN move to exclude the groups, including women’s rights activists, from the two-day meeting on Afghanistan as the price for the Taliban government’s participation.

“Authorities will not sit across the table with Afghan civil society in this format, but they have heard very clearly the need to include women and civil society in all aspects of public life”, DiCarlo told a Doha news conference.

The UN-hosted meeting began on Sunday and is the third such gathering to be held in Qatar in a little over a year, but the first to include the Taliban authorities who seized power in Afghanistan for a second time in 2021.

The talks were due to discuss increasing engagement with Afghanistan and a more coordinated response to the country, including economic issues and counter-narcotics efforts.

The international community has wrestled with its approach to the Taliban since they returned to power, with no country officially recognising its government.

 ‘Gender apartheid’ 

The group has imposed a strict interpretation of Islam, with women subjected to laws characterised by the UN as “gender apartheid”.

The Taliban refused an invitation to Doha talks in February, insisting on being the only Afghan representatives, to the exclusion of civil society groups. But their condition was accepted in the build-up to this latest round.

The United States said it agreed to participate in Monday’s talks after receiving assurances that the talks would meaningfully discuss human rights.

US point man on Afghanistan Thomas West and Rina Amiri, the US special envoy on the rights of Afghan women and girls, in Doha “made clear that the Afghan economy cannot grow while half the population’s rights are not respected”, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said.

DiCarlo, who chaired the UN talks in the Qatari capital, said she “hopes” that “there’ll be new consideration” of Taliban government policy on women in public life including girls’ education.

The UN and international delegations will have the chance to meet with civil society representatives, including women’s rights groups, following the close of the main meetings.

But Amnesty International chief Agnes Callamard said in a statement ahead of the talks that “caving into the Taliban’s conditions to secure their participation in the talks would risk legitimising their gender-based institutionalised system of oppression”.

The Taliban authorities have repeatedly said the rights of all citizens are guaranteed under Islamic law.

The head of the Taliban delegation, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, told the more than 20 assembled special envoys and UN officials at the opening session that diplomats should “find ways of interaction and understanding rather than confrontation”, despite “natural” differences in policy.

 ‘Engaging constructively’ 

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is keen on engaging constructively with Western nations as well,” Mujahid said.

“Like any sovereign state, we uphold certain religious and cultural values and public aspirations that must be acknowledged,” he added.

Mujahid also pressed to end sanctions, saying Afghans are “being ganged up on”.

The Taliban government spokesman questioned whether ongoing sanctions were “fair practice” after “wars and insecurity for almost half a century as a result of foreign invasions and interference”.

Russia, which has maintained an embassy in Kabul, hinted it could drop its own sanctions, saying the group were the de facto authorities.

“We’ve been saying consistently that you have to recognise this fact and deal with them as such because, whether you like it or not, this movement is running the country now. You cannot simply ignore that,” said Russia’s envoy to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya.

DiCarlo said the issue of sanctions was “raised” but not discussed in depth.

“It’s a member-state issue whether they’re going to continue certain sanctions or not. The sanctions are on people, not on the country at large,” she said

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The curtains on arguably the most exhilarating of all T20 World Cups were drawn with India’s magnificent triumph over South Africa in a pulsating final which aptly summed up the entire tournament that twisted this way and that till the very end. While India strengthened their position as one of the true behemoths of the modern game with their embarrassment of riches in terms of talent, and an unerring determination to win, the others too, with their extremely high standard of cricket, contributed handsomely in making it an unforgettable tournament.

Here are some significant moments from the past few weeks to reminisce about:

1) USA shock Pakistan

First-timers USA, co-hosting the showpiece with the West Indies, caused a flutter when they stunned former champions Pakistan in a Super Over in Dallas in the very first week of the tournament.

A boundary off the final ball of USA’s run-chase had sent the match to a Super Over, and it was the co-hosts of the tournament who came out on top at the Grand Prairie Stadium, pulling off one of the all-time great upsets.

2) India prevail over arch-rivals Pakistan on tricky pitch

On a tricky New York pitch that offered plenty of assistance to fast bowlers, India were asked to bat first by Pakistan skipper Babar Azam and were bowled out for 119 in 19 overs after a collapse.

In reply, Pakistan were cruising at one stage but as they are wont to, Babar’s team pressed the panic button in the face of some incredible death bowling from Jasprit Bumrah, losing the match by six runs to stand on the brink of a group-stage elimination following back-to-back reverses.

India captain Rohit Sharma deserves some credit for the win as he kept a couple of Bumrah overs for the back end, which proved to be decisive.

3) India-US group game

The tacky pitch at New York’s Nassau County International Cricket Stadium continued to be the subject of debate as India locked horns with USA, who were bowled out for 110 after Arshdeep Singh (4/9) registered his best bowling figures in T20I cricket.

In the chase, India wobbled a bit, losing big guns Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant with just 39 runs on the board.

But they overcame the anxious moments and completed the chase thanks to Suryakumar Yadav’s calculated half-century.

4) Afghanistan enter semifinals for the first time

Afghanistan qualified for the semi-finals of a World Cup for the first time by beating Bangladesh by eight runs in a tense low-scoring showdown in St Vincent. But the highlight of their inspiring campaign was the stunning win over heavyweights Australia in their penultimate Super Eights game.

If not for Rashid Khan’s, Australia could well have proved to be a thorn in the flesh for others.

5) Rohit goes ballistic against Australia

Leading from the front, India captain Rohit Sharma produced one of the most brutal assault on the Australian bowlers during a 41-ball 92, which left the rivals deflated as the Men in Blue stormed into the semifinals with a convincing victory.

That hammering left Mitchell Marsh’s men dependent on the result of the Afghanistan-Bangladesh match to progress, which did not go their way.

6) Afghanistan’s 56 all out against South Africa

Up against South Africa’s high-quality pace bowling in the semifinal, Afghanistan were skittled for 56 as the giant-slayers’ run in the tournament ended on a rather forgettable note.

7) Kuldeep-Axar duo bamboozle England

After Rohit Sharma once again led by example and Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya’s vital runs with the bat, the spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel bamboozled the English batters with their extraordinary bowling, paving the way for India’s crushing win over the defending champions and their entry into the the third ICC tournament final in last 12 months.

7) Kohli finally among runs

Coming into the final after a poor run of scores and questions being asked about his place in the XI, Virat Kohli regained his touch when it mattered the most — the big final against a quality attack — and lifted his team from a precarious position, standing tall amid the rubble.

His 59-ball 76 laid the foundation for a total that proved to be just enough for the Indian bowlers to defend and snatch the trophy from within South Africa’s grasp at Kensington Oval.

8) Surya’s blinder of a catch

Kohli might have struck form in the big game but had it not been for Suryakumar’s catch for the ages, India wouldn’t have become champions of the world for the second time in the shortest format.

Needing 16 runs from the final over, the dangerous David Miller hit a wide full toss from Hardik Pandya but Suryakumar steadied himself on the ropes, caught the ball, released it just as he went over the boundary ropes and then came back in to complete an astonishing catch that will be talked about like Kapil Dev’s from the 1983 campaign or Jonty Rhodes’ blinder in 1996.

9) Kohli and Rohit’s T20I retirement

Barely an hour after the epic triumph, captain Rohit Sharma joined his longtime teammate Virat Kohli in announcing his retirement from international T20 matches, the most fitting end to two glorious careers that ran parallel to each other for the last 15 years.

It is not for nothing that reams of pages, waxing lyrical, were dedicated to the two all-time greats of the game amid the euphoria over India’s title triumph.

South African skipper Aiden Markram was certain that he does not want to play another match on the pitch here, but was chuffed to see his side tame a challenging track in the semifinal to enter its maiden T20 World Cup final. The deck at the Brian Lara Academy stadium offered considerable movement off the seam and South African quicks used it to the optimum to bowl out Afghanistan for an insufficient 56.

“If we reflect back on this wicket, we’ll probably be pretty happy that we’re not playing here again. T20 cricket as a whole, you want entertainment,” said Markram in the post-match press meet after SA defeated Afghanistan by nine wickets.

Markram was delighted to see South Africa finding a way to win on a challenging strip.

“The wickets that we’ve had throughout the competition have been pretty challenging. It’s hard to tell that a wicket is not good because it can’t just always be a batter’s game.

“Having said that, still taking the positives we can. Wickets are tough. So, finding a way to win is probably the most important thing.” South Africa will now travel to Barbados for the final either against India or England.

“We’ve been doing it for most of our careers, you jump from venue to venue where conditions are quite different. So, it’s again just adapting and playing the pitch and the game that’s in front of you.

“We’ll try to find ways to always take wickets with the ball and from a batting point of view try to get to a score that’s defendable. Both teams have to play on the same wicket,” he noted.

But for now, Markram wants to relish the feeling of entering a World Cup title clash.

“The bits that we’re realising now, it’s obviously a really nice feeling. This team’s been together for a long time now as a white ball group, and it’s nice for us to get to a final.

“We feel and believe that we can compete with the best in the world and we can win trophies. It’s nice for us to now have that opportunity.” The SA captain said winning close games in the group and Super Eights stages of boosted their confidence.

“You do get belief from winning close games and potentially winning games that you thought you weren’t going to win.

“It does a lot for your changing room vibe. So, we’ll take a little bit of confidence from that and see if we can put it to any use in the final,” he offered.

In a way, South Africa have atoned for all their past failures in global events, but Markram insisted that the past was not a topic in the current dressing room.

“We haven’t spoken about it to be honest. I think it’s a personal and individual motivation that you get to a final; to earn the opportunity to lift the trophy.

“So, if you reflect back, we couldn’t get over the line in that semifinal (in the 50-over World Cup against Australia) and you look at tonight, a few things went our way. We managed to win the game and we found ourselves in the final.” The 29-year-old patted South African bowlers for making the semifinal a lopsided affair after bowling out Afghanistan for a record low of 56.

“The bowlers, the whole competition, they’ve been really good. Probably saving the batters on certain occasions. So, you have to give a lot of appreciation towards them.

Markram had led South Africa to the under-19 World Cup title a decade ago, but he was not really banking on that experience here.

“It’s a really long time ago and my memory is not great, but you get a little bit of confidence and belief knowing you have done it on a certain level before. There are similar pressures that you have to deal with being in a final,” he added.

Markram was also gracious enough to acknowledge the wonderful run Afghanistan had in this event.

“It’s really cool to see. They have some of the best (players) in the world at the moment. So, they’re really on a good track. Making a semifinal for them is obviously massive. I think they’ve inspired a lot of people back at home.

“I’ve seen some pictures that inspire us as well to try and make that difference to people back at home. I’m sure it’s not going to be the end of them making knockout cricket,” he concluded.

South Africa sent a stern warning to their opponents in the 2024 T20 World Cup, as they bowled out Afghanistan for a total of just 56, before chasing it down in under 10 overs. The Proteas reached their first-ever T20 World Cup Final, and will face either India or England on June 29. But throughout their dominant bowling performance, one moment stood out, showing the sheer might of the South African bowling unit. The delivery – bowled by Kagiso Rabada – went viral on social media.

With Afghanistan off to a shaky start at 20-3, Kagiso Rabada bowled a peach of a delivery to knock over veteran batter Mohammad Nabi for a duck.

The inswinging delivery sent Nabi’s off-stump cartwheeling. Afghanistan were down to 20-4 inside four overs. The ball beat Nabi between his bat and pad, and dismantled the stumps.

Rabada bowled a maiden over, including the two wickets of Nabi and opener Ibrahim Zadran. Rabada’s delivery went viral on X, with fans raving.

“Look at the run up, the action and the delivery. The perfect fast bowler,” tweeted one user.

Rabada, what is this ?

..#SAvsAFG #SAvAFG #T20WoldCup pic.twitter.com/6EjhRdnRwR

— 56 is not Just Number (@HUSNAINMANJ_01) June 27, 2024

Another fan on social media called for Rabada to receive more appreciation.

One comparison touted Rabada as a greater bowler than legendary South African speedstar Dale Steyn at his peak.

One more fan brought up the mouth-watering prospect of India’s Virat Kohli facing Rabada in the 2024 T20 World Cup Final.

With the chances of rain being over 90% for the second semi-final, an abandoned match would see India qualify to the final ahead of England, due to their better group stage finish.

People talk about Bumrah, people talk about Starc, people talk about Cummins. But this beast has always gone under-appreciated despite being too good in every format for years now. https://t.co/W4dPYWMHq7

— Thank You Davey (@jersey_no_46) June 27, 2024

This boy’s purpose was to play cricket. Better than prime Dale Steyn in my books https://t.co/g9kWeJVkfc

— Linda #WOD (@The_DonHimself) June 27, 2024

Rabada to kohli https://t.co/absD9MOn9r

— Oscar (@Oscar_0039) June 27, 2024

Rabada’s two wickets, along with three each from Marco Jansen and Tabraiz Shamsi and two more from Anrich Nortje, helped South Africa bundle up the Afghan batting lineup in just 11.5 overs.

South Africa still have a 100% win record in the 2024 T20 World Cup.

Former Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower on Thursday labelled the pitch for the T20 World Cup semifinal in Trindidad as ‘dangerous’ after Afghanistan suffered a nine-wicket defeat to South Africa. On a tough pitch with variable bounce and exaggerated seam movement, Afghanistan folded for a mere 56 in 11.5 overs for their lowest T20I total as South Africa made their first-ever World Cup final. While Flower backed Afghanistan’s decision to bat after winning the toss, he said it was impossible for the batters to gauge the bounce off the surface.

“You can’t blame Afghanistan for doing what they did at the toss. They had such an excellent record batting first and then defending with a very good varied attack of their own,” Flower told ESPNCricinfo.

“But batting first was a really tough ask. You didn’t know what a good score would be and they were just blown away.” “A couple of balls flew off a length around, sort of shoulder, neck, chin height off the South African quicks and one of them flew over Quinton de Kock — the ‘keeper’s head and gloves for four byes. I was pleased that no one got hurt,” Flower said.

Flower, who coaches Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL, said visuals of the pitch revealed the cracks and blocks which produced a ‘wild variance in bounce’.

“You saw some interesting visual shots from above the square and a couple of the commentators referenced this being a brand new pitch. Perhaps, they could have used a pitch that had been used previously,” he said.

“Those shots showed that crazy paving-type effect and that those blocks and the cracks produced this wild variance in bounce. As a batter, you’re trying to predict where the ball is going to be. You want to meet it somewhere near the middle of the bat, at least.” “(But) on this pitch, it was almost impossible to do that on any consistent basis at all. I thought it was actually a little bit dangerous,” said the former England head coach.

Former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody said batting on that pitch at the Brian Lara Stadium was ‘a very difficult challenge to combat’.

“I don’t think you’d want to see it in any game, to be honest with you. You want a fair contest between bat and ball and I’m not advocating that we need to have surfaces that you need 200 plus runs,” he said.

“But you need consistent bounce — that is the most important thing — (and) any batter would hold their hands up and say, that is the most important thing.” “If you’ve got one ball that’s hitting the toe of your bat or one that you feel like you’re going to punch with your gloves at the same length, that is a very difficult challenge to combat,” he added.

Moody observed presence of thick grass near the cracks on the pitch led to invariable bounce on the surface.

“You see, this sort of crazy paving, if I could put it that way, where a lot of dense grass was gathered around those cracks — you could just tell that was the thing that promoted the inconsistency of bounce,” he said.

“It’ll be something that they’ll reflect on, if not reflecting on already and thinking, well, we’ve got this wrong,” added Moody. 

Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan© AFP

Former Australia cricketer Tom Moody gave a huge thumbs-down to the pitch at the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium in Trinidad used for the first semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 between South Africa and Afghanistan, saying the surface was not fit to host any cricket match. The pitch offered huge lateral movement for fast bowlers and also offered excessive inconsistent bounce, as some balls flew off the surface, while others stayed really low. Amidst challenging conditions, South Africa were at their fiery best to bowl out Afghanistan for just 56 and chased down the total in 8.5 overs to seal their spot in the final at Barbados on Sunday.

“I don’t think you’d want to see it in any game, to be honest with you. You want a fair contest between bat and ball and I’m not advocating that we need to have surfaces that you need 200 runs. But you need a consistent bounce, that is the most important thing. Any batter would hold their hands up and say, that is the most important thing.”

“If you’ve got one ball that’s hitting the toe of your bat or one that you feel like you’re going to punch with your gloves at the same length, that is a very difficult challenge to combat. If you’ve got sidewards movement or swing or spin, that’s a different challenge, but at least there’s some sort of consistency and you can come up with some sort of strategy and method to combat that and I don’t think it was good enough.”

“I actually covered two games in Trinidad at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy and the surface was pretty similar. You see this sort of crazy paving, if I could put it that way, where a lot of dense grass was gathered around those cracks and you could just tell that was the thing that promoted the inconsistency of bounce. So therefore, it’ll be something that they’ll reflect on, if not reflecting on already and thinking, well, we’ve got this wrong,” said Moody on ESPNCricinfo’s TimeOut show.

Similar views were echoed by former Zimbabwe batter Andy Flower. “You saw some interesting visual shots from above the square and a couple of the commentators referenced this being a brand-new pitch and perhaps they could have used a pitch that had been used previously and therefore you knew that it could use a certain type of bounce.”

“That’s certainly something more consistent and predictable, but those shots showed that crazy paving-type effect and that those blocks and the cracks around those blocks produced this wild variance in bounce. And as a batter, you’re trying to predict where the ball is going to be. You want to meet it somewhere near the middle of the bat at least.”

“And on this pitch, it was almost impossible to do that on any consistent basis at all. I thought it was actually a little bit dangerous. A couple of balls flew off a length around sort of shoulder, neck, chin height of the South African quicks and one of them flew over Quinton de Kock, the keeper’s head and gloves for four byes, and I was pleased that no one got hurt.”

Flower also felt the pitch at Trinidad reminded them of how tough pitches were during the New York leg of the competition, where South Africa won three matches.

“We saw a little bit of a similar pitch in New York in the early part of the competition, which wasn’t good enough for international quality quicks. And then we saw it again today and it produced a complete mismatch.”

“And you can’t blame Afghanistan for doing what they did at the toss. They had such an excellent record batting first and then defending with a very good, varied attack of their own. But the bat first on there was a really tough ask. You didn’t know what a good score would be and they were just blown away.”

Gulbadin Naib dramatically falling on his back, clutching his thigh after Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott signalled his players to slow things down in the T20 World Cup match against Bangladesh caused both amusement and annoyance as former players questioned the genuineness of his discomfort. Naib, who was fielding in the slip cordon, complained of cramps during the 12th over bowled by spinner Noor Ahmad, after Trott was seen on camera asking his players to slow down as Bangladesh had fallen behind on the Duckworth-Lewis par score in the rain-hit Super 8 clash.

The match saw frequent rain interruptions and Bangladesh, at that stage, were 81 for 7, two runs behind on the DLS par score in a revised chase of 114 in 19 overs. Afghans eventually prevailed by eight runs to enter their maiden World Cup semifinal.

“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,” said Simon Doull while commentating.

Zimbabwean commentator Pommie Mbangwa quipped: “Oscar, Emmy?”.

This is Unacceptable

This is cheating from Afghanistan

Bangladesh scored 81 Runs before the rain and they were only 2 Runs behind par score and Gulbadin Naib do this to avoid Bangladesh victory on DLS

Once a cheater always a Cheater pic.twitter.com/oEnVPlcFCP

— Imran Siddique (@imransiddique89) June 25, 2024

Naib was given treatment and was taken off the field by teammate Naveen-ul-Haq and a support staff as it started raining again and players ran to the dugout. Later, Gulbadin Naib shared an image of Afghanistan’s physio with a cheeky caption: “Wonders can happen Prashanth Panchada My physio”

When play resumed after a shot delay, the target for Bangladesh was revised.

Naib was soon back on the field in the 13th over with Najibullah Zadran substituting him briefly. The all-rounder also rolled his arms over and dismissed Tanzim Hasan in the 15th over to reduce Bangladesh to 92 for 8.

Social media was also abuzz with players and fans reacting to the incident.

“Red card for Gulbadin Naib,” tweeted India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in ‘X’.

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan wrote: “Spirit of cricket is alive & kicking… Great to see Gulbadin become the first cricketer in the history of the game to get a wicket 25 mins after being shot…” Former New Zealand cricketer and commentator Ian Smith said: “I’ve a dodgy knee for the last 6 months, I am gonna see Gulbadin Naib’s doctor straight after the game. He’s the 8th wonder of the world right now.”