Suryakumar Yadav was seen bowling like Usman TariqImage Credit source: PTI
There should be a match between India and Pakistan and before that all focus should be on a player who has played a total of 4 international matches. This is rarely seen. But before the match in T20 World Cup 2026, a similar atmosphere is being created regarding Pakistan spinner Usman Tariq. Tariq, who is constantly facing questions due to his bowling action, remains a puzzle for the batsmen. In such a situation, so that the Indian batsmen could answer him, captain Suryakumar Yadav himself was seen bowling imitating this Pakistani bowler in practice.
On Sunday, February 15, when Team India will face Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, this time more eyes will be on Shaheen Shah Afridi or Naseem Shah. Osman Tariq But there will be. His side arm action and slight pause before releasing the ball has been in the news even before the start of the World Cup. Not only social media users, but Australia’s star all-rounder Cameron Green had also recently raised questions on his action. However, Green later apologized for this.
This is how preparations were made to deal with Tariq
Team India will face Usman Tariq for the first time, so it is not going to be easy for the Indian batsmen. Keeping this in mind, a day before the match, Team India prepared to deal with the Pakistani spinner in its practice session. For this, captain Suryakumar Yadav himself copied Tariq’s action exactly and made the left-handed batsmen including Rinku Singh, Abhishek Sharma do special practice. Apart from the captain, other net bowlers also made the batsmen practice by bowling with such action.
Prepare for ‘out of syllabus’ questions
The question regarding Usman Tariq was raised in the press conference held before the practice session of Team India. A Pakistani journalist asked Suryakumar how he would deal with an out-of-syllabus bowler like Usman Tariq. In response to this, the Indian captain admitted that he is a different kind of bowler but Team India is ready for this and is not going to surrender in front of a bowler with such a different action.
Tariq made his international debut just a few weeks ago but before that he had already made his mark through different leagues. So far, this bowler has taken 11 wickets in 4 international matches, while he has taken 70 wickets in a total of 42 T20 matches. In such a situation, he can definitely become a problem for the batsmen on the slow pitch of Colombo. Especially due to the large number of left-handed batsmen in Team India, the job of this off-spinner can be easy.
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