• Source:JND

IND vs PAK T20 World Cup 2026: After a few minutes, before Suryakumar Yadav had dismissed the concerns around Pakistan's Usman Tariq's action, he was seen imitating his action in India's practice session on Saturday. Tariq’s unique slingy round-arm ability has gotten clearance from the International Cricket Council, and it is rarely seen how tough it is to control.

His flatter trajectory gives the batter a hard time clearing the boundaries. He also pauses when he takes his breakthrough, and this has led to a huge debate in which R Ashwin is a part.

Suryakumar Yadav has revealed that they are prepared for this challenge and also called Tariq's action ‘out of the syllabus,’ but they won't give up. He also emphasised that they had prepared against bowlers who had the same action. And that he was the one who helped them practice.

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Watch the video here:

The ICC too had shared a video on its official Instagram account, where Suryakumar was seen taking the extra bounce when he was bowling.

This isn't the first time that the team has used a different approach against a Pakistani bowler.

Ten years ago, the Men in Blue were supposed to face Mohammad Irfan in the 2016 Asia Cup as he was more than seven feet tall. To play against him, the team management made sure of making their net sling arm-throwers stand on stools and chairs.

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A Pakistani reporter had given the ‘out of syllabus’ tag to Tariq in Suryakumar’s pre-match press conference, to which the Indian responded with a grin: “Sometimes in an exam, you get a question out of the syllabus, but you can’t just skip it. You have to try something to tackle it. Yes, he’s a different character, but at the same time, we can’t just surrender. We have practiced against bowlers with similar actions."

Tariq’s reputation soared after a three-wicket haul against the USA, while India recently struggled against Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus, who employs a similar method. With the R. Premadasa Stadium expected to assist spin, India’s recent vulnerability against slow bowling could face a stern examination.

However, Harbhajan Singh is confident that India can mitigate it.

Harbhajan’s trump card

The former India spinner accepted the difficulty of playing against such a bowler but backed opener Abhishek Sharma, who has recently recovered from his illness, to counter him.

“See, he’s someone that I have seen bowl in ILT20, where he was a pick of the bowlers. Whenever he got the opportunity to play in the semifinal and the final, he was the man of the match. He is different from the other spinners and has a lot of variations," Harbhajan told PTI.

“People are talking about him for his stand and deliver action. It’s not easy. You know, anybody can stand and bowl, but you’ve got to have different variations, which he’s got, and he’s hard to hit in bigger grounds and slower pitches. So, all I want to say is that be a little bit mindful when you’re playing against someone whom you have never faced before. India can tackle him and not give him any big wickets. It’s good to see Abhishek coming back, who plays spin really well and dominates (spin) throughout his innings," he added.


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