Pakistan captain Salman Agha defended off-spinner Usman Tariq’s unconventional bowling action on Friday, praising him as the team’s “X factor” ahead of their Twenty20 World Cup opener against the Netherlands in Colombo.
Tariq, who has featured in three T20 Internationals since his debut against South Africa in November, has been reported twice for a suspect bowling action in the Pakistan Super League. His unique style involves a pause near the crease before delivering the ball with a side-arm sling-shot action.
The 28-year-old took two wickets in his second T20 International against Australia. In that match in Lahore, Australian batsman Cameron Green, one of his victims, made a chucking gesture after being dismissed.
“I don’t understand why we
are talking about his action because in my opinion it is a fair action,” Salman was quoted as saying on Friday.
“He has been tested twice and he has been cleared.”
“I think there is no problem in his action. Yes, he is the X factor of the team, and where we feel that we need an X factor, we will definitely use him.”
Pakistan has decided to boycott their Group A match against defending champions India due to political tensions between the neighbouring countries. This means they have little room for error in their quest to qualify for the Super 8 stage.
Besides India, the group includes the United States, who shocked Pakistan in the 2024 tournament via the Super Over.
Do Or Die Games
Salman emphasised the importance of performing well even against second-tier teams like Namibia or the Netherlands. “It is very important because you haven’t played much against these sides and you don’t really know their strength and weakness are. So it is very, very important to bring your A game, and we as a team only think about how we can execute our plans for 40 overs,” he said.
With Pakistan potentially facing a smaller margin for error without a match against India, Agha emphasised that the team’s focus is on performance rather than conditions.
“The weather, you can’t control. This is something like we don’t really think about what we can’t control. And certainly, the weather is one thing you can’t control. And we are just here to play good cricket, and whatever challenges they throw at us, we will deal with them. And yeah, we will just be here to play good cricket, and weather is something we don’t control, and we don’t really think about that.”
(With inputs from Agencies)
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