Pakistan’s Usman Tariq has grabbed eyeballs for his unique bowling action. The spinner has a lot of variations in his bowling, but the style of his delivery is the biggest talking point. Usman stops and pauses during his side-arm action and then delivers the ball. Batters have found it really tough to face him due to such a strange bowling action, with some even questioning its legality. Recently, Australia all-rounder Cameron Green accused Tariq of ‘chucking’ during a T20I game between the sides in January. It is interesting to note that Tariq’s action has been cleared twice by the International Cricket Council.
Considering the success of Tariq’s unique bowling style, many spinners are actively adopting it. A similar incident took place during a cricket game in Sri Lanka, but the umpire’s decision surprised everyone.
It happened when Richmond College and Mahinda College were playing against each other in the ‘Lover’s Quarrel’. Representing Richmond, a left-arm spinner, named Nethuja Bashitha, tried to emulate Tariq’s action with his own touch. As Bashitha delivered the ball after a long delay in his stride, the umpire called it a ‘dead ball’.
Watch it here:
A fan of Usman Tariq was spotted during the match between Richmond College and Mahinda College in Galle, Sri Lanka. pic.twitter.com/h7DOQpIFr1
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Usman was tipped to torment opposition batters in the T20 World Cup 2026, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka recently, but the Pakistan spinner endured a largely quiet tournament as the team failed to progress to the semifinals after being eliminated at the Super Eight stage. He picked up 10 wickets in six matches with an economy rate of 7.23.
During the tournament, Tariq said, “I was not expecting that I would get this much hype and appreciation from all the legends and from you guys (commentators). I’m really enjoying every moment and really enjoying my performances.”
Tariq, who honed his action while playing with a tennis ball in domestic cricket, said his unique bowling technique had been part of his game from the start and had continued to serve him well.
“Yes, even this action was developed from the beginning when I used to bowl with a tennis ball. If you check my action in slow motion, you’ll see the timing is still there, but I’m moving slowly. I just try to break the fractions of my bowling action. That’s how it is working for me,” he said.
(With agency inputs)