Having called Usman Tariq an “out of syllabus question”, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav imitated the Pakistan spinner’s action while bowling to his teammates at nets at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Saturday. Although the batter couldn’t be recognized properly, it was a left-hander batter – either Abhishek Sharma or Tilak Varma.
In a video that went viral on social media, Suryakumar was seen copying Tariq’s action and bowling with a same pause, as that of the 28-year-old from the opposition camp. The batter calmly played the ball on the drive. The Indian training session was however hampered by light rain as the Men in Blue were forced to train indoors in Colombo on Saturday.
Tariq, who has played just four T20Is so far for Pakistan, has been the talk of the town ever since he was picked for the T20 World Cup 2026. Playing a spinner with a sidearm action is usually difficult. And if he makes a pause before releasing the ball, it makes it for the batters to judge when the white cherry comes out of the bowler’s hand.
