Colombo, Feb 14 Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha reflected on the chatter surrounding Usman Tariq and his bowling action, calling the spinner the team's "trump card" for the high-stakes T20 World Cup clash with India on Sunday at the R Premadasa Stadium.
Tariq's unique bowling has faced questions over its legality, particularly for a pause in his delivery stride, holding his landing foot in the air before releasing the ball with exaggerated delay.
Speaking ahead of the marquee clash, Agha hit back at all the scrutiny over the spinner's action, saying his bowling has already been cleared by the ICC twice, so why is there a lot of chatter about it?
"For us every player is equal. You guys have made Usman Tariq this big. He has been bowling well. He is our trump card. Usman has been cleared twice by the ICC. I don't know why there is talk about his action. He doesn't care about all this talk," Agha told reporters in the pre-match presser on Saturday.
Speaking about Babar Azam's form, Agha said that the star batter Babar Azam is not a worry for the team heading into the India game.
Babar, who hit an unbeaten half-century against Australia in the final match of the three-game T20I series against Australia prior to the T20 World Cup, made a scratchy 15 off 18 in Pakistan's three-wicket win over the Netherlands in the tournament opener. The former skipper somehow salvaged some pride as he scored a fluent 46 off 32 balls against the USA.
"Babar Azam is not a concern for us. He has been scoring runs. And hopefully he'll score runs and help us tomorrow. We don't want to change the batting position too much," Agha stated.
India and Pakistan have been placed in the same group in the opening stages of the past five editions of the T20 World Cup and the previous two 50-over World Cup competitions. Till now, the two sides have played each other eight times in the T20 World Cup, with India emerging victorious on seven occasions, while Pakistan managed to win only once (in 2021).
The Pakistan skipper acknowledged that the team's record against India in World Cups is not favourable, stating, "We cannot change history. We do not have a good record against India in World Cups but will try for a better performance."
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