Pakistan captain Salman Agha has defended Usman Tariq’s contentious bowling motion and described the off-spinner because the aspect’s “X factor” forward of the T20 World Cup.
Tariq has created headlines since making his worldwide debut in November, with the 28-year-old twice reported for a suspect motion within the Pakistan Tremendous League.
His distinctive motion sees him pause close to the crease earlier than firing the ball with a wide-arm sling-shot sort supply.
After being dismissed by Tariq throughout a warm-up fixture forward of the World Cup final week, Australia batter Cameron Inexperienced made a chucking gesture as he walked off the sector.
“I don’t understand why we are talking about his action because, in my opinion, it is a fair action,” Salman instructed reporters forward of Pakistan’s opening fixture towards the Netherlands on Saturday.
“He has been examined twice, and he has been cleared.
“I think there is no problem in his action. Yes, he is the X factor of the team, and where we feel that we need an X factor, we will definitely use him.”
Pakistan have little room for error within the match, having determined to boycott their Group A fixture with India amid political tensions, and subsequently will possible want wins towards Netherlands, USA and Namibia with the intention to advance to the Tremendous 8 stage.
Salman has warned his aspect that they might want to deliver their “A game” to make sure they keep away from an upset.
“It is very important, because you haven’t played much against these sides and you don’t really know their strength and weakness are,” he mentioned.
“It is very, very important to bring your A game, and we as a team only think about how we can execute our plans for 40 overs.”
Sri Lanka chiefs urge Pakistan to rethink boycott
Sri Lanka Cricket has urged Pakistan to rethink its deliberate boycott towards India, saying a forfeited match may hit the tourism sector of a rustic nonetheless recovering from an financial collapse.
“We have asked them to reconsider the decision based on the reports we have got,” Ashley de Silva, chief govt of Sri Lanka Cricket, mentioned on Friday.
He mentioned there may very well be hits from a number of angles if the boycott goes forward, as a result of Sri Lanka Cricket has already finalised preparations for the February 15 match with all safety plans in place, lodge bookings and ticket gross sales full.
De Silva mentioned that SLC wrote to its counterparts on the Pakistan Cricket Board on the premise of robust cricket relations between the 2 international locations, however declined to supply additional particulars.
Sri Lanka was the primary nationwide staff to tour Pakistan to revive worldwide cricket there following a protracted absence of incoming excursions. That worldwide suspension stemmed from a 2009 terror assault on the Sri Lanka staff’s bus in Lahore.
Sri Lanka skilled an unprecedented financial collapse in 2022 and is now below an Worldwide Financial Fund restoration program. Tourism is a key financial lifeline of the island nation.
England’s T20 World Cup fixtures (first spherical)
All instances UK and Eire; all video games dwell on Sky Sports activities
- vs Nepal (Sunday February 8) – Mumbai (9.30am)
- vs West Indies (Wednesday February 11) – Mumbai (1.30pm)
- vs Scotland (Saturday February 14) – Kolkata (9.30am)
- vs Italy (Monday February 16) – Kolkata (9.30am)
Watch each match of the T20 World Cup dwell Sky Sports activities from February 7-March 8. Get Sky Sports activities or stream contract-free.

