Usman Tariq, a 30-year-old mystery spinner, begins his first T20 Blast outing with the Bears and also plays for Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred. After working in Dubai’s car-parts industry in his early twenties, he pursued cricket following inspiration from a biopic of MS Dhoni. His rise includes a Pakistan Super League debut in 2024, international opportunities, and nine T20I caps. Two official rounds of bowling-action testing cleared him within one week each time. He says he has not been told his arm flexion makes his bowling illegal and is willing to attend a testing lab if any issue is found. Online criticism persists, including comparisons to Cameron Green’s throwing-action remarks, but Tariq maintains his action is tested and cleared.
"I have faced so many naysayers, says Tariq, freshly arrived at his new home of Edgbaston. People around me used to tell me Usman, in the UK you might get some tough times because it's really hard for you to go there and justify your action. The umpires, they will be quite harsh. They're really strict.' I said no, I want to face it. Let's see what happens. If they feel that I'm having any issue with my action, I'm ready to go to the [testing] lab."
"I watched a film about [Sri Lanka's] Muttiah Muralitharan and [he] used to invite people to test him, to show he was not an illegal bowler. The same story goes with me. I have been tested two times. It has been cleared within one week. No one told me that you're having some degrees [of flex] which are making you illegal."
"Despite this, social media tends to be awash with remarks whenever Tariq is bowling, while Australia's Cameron Green made a pointed throwing action after being dismissed by him earlier this year. But like Muralitharan, Tariq is simply unable to straighten his right arm and so gives the illusion of throwing. Tariq bowls in a T20 against Australia in January."
Read at www.theguardian.com
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