Published: February 16, 2026 at 2:07 pm
Pakistan’s ‘stop and pause’ bowler Usman Tariq has triggered a real red-hot debate and an unending reaction surrounding his unique action. He has already raised a lot of eyebrows with his sidearm or sling bowling. His long pause before every delivery is creating ripples in cricketing circles and also a serious uncertainty for batters. This has forced many teams to make in depth analysis on his bowling action. On the eve of the India-Pakistan match, there was quite a buzz around Tariq’s bowling action and it forced Surya Kumar Yadav to mimic the spinner’s action during the Indian nets.
The Indians, who outplayed Pakistan in Sunday’s clash, cleverly handled Tariq’s four overs by playing safely. The biggest problem for a batter is to judge the ball’s trajectory. Tariq has certainly created a mystery element and threat to the teams in white ball cricket.
Ever since T20 has come into existence, the batting, bowling and fielding has evolved. The batters have learnt to outsmart the bowlers by switch-hits, reverse hits, the Dilscoops or Suryascoops, Dhoni helicopter shot or Ishan Kishan’s one-leg tonk to deep fine leg.
So, when the batters have shown improvisation in their shots, the bowlers too have become wiser. The slower balls or bouncers or wide of the crease of in-dipping slower yorkers and delivering the ball behind the umpire.
Suryakumar Yadav and Usman Tariq. Pic: Geo News/ ICC
The latest innovation is Tariq’s pause and bowl action. For the connoisseurs of the game, they would feel it is ugly after watching the classical actions of Bishen Bedi or Erapalli Prasanna. But modern cricket is all about street smart innovations which come within the laws of the game.
The law 21.2 Fair delivery—the arm
An illegal bowling action is defined as an action where a bowler’s Elbow Extension exceeds 15 degrees, measured from the point at which the bowling arm reaches the horizontal until the point at which the ball is released (any Elbow Hyperextension shall be discounted for the purposes of determining an illegal Bowling Action).
Should either umpire or the ICC Match Referee suspect that a bowler has used an illegal bowling action, they shall complete the ICC bowling action report form at the conclusion of the match, as set out in the illegal bowling regulations, says the rule book.
Former Indian wily off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was the first big cricketer to come out in support of Tariq’s action. He said in a tweet: “Okay, let me make it as clear as possible. Firstly, the legalities of his action can only be tested at an ICC bowling action testing Centre.
“Secondly, there is a 15° rule under which a bowler needs to keep his elbow and straighten it and to judge if a bowler is bowling within that 15° mark by the on-field umpire is impossible. The only solution to that is having real time in a competition testing tool.
“The above is a grey area and to accuse someone for utilising the grey area is wrong. Finally, if the pause at the crease is legal or not, and that’s where I believe that it is entirely legal because that is his regular action.’’
Nothing wrong with Tariq’s action: Shivram
Former Indian international umpire Ivaturi Shivram too said there was nothing wrong in Tariq’s action. “How does it matter if Tariq pauses in his stride and then bowls. The Law does not say anything about this – how he bowls as long he does not bend his bowling arm. In fact, the bowler can stand near the stumps and bowl but can neither throw nor bowl underarm,’’ said Shivram.
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Shivram added: “Once the backfoot lands, then the delivery stride starts. For a bowler who has no run up, standing and bowling, his delivery straightway starts. That is a batter’s problem. If the batter stops the bowler, the umpire will excuse it and call it a dead ball. But if it is the second time, the umpire will pull up the batter, not the bowler. The batter should adapt and it is a new challenge for the batters. He should understand the delivery or the bowler.”
The beauty of Tariq’s action, according to Shivram, is that the bowler has a variety of deliveries – side-arm based leg breaks, googlies etc. “He has been putting hard work into it. It is not easy to bowl these types of deliveries. Surya too bowled at the Indian nets session though it was not as effective as Tariq. He is unique in many ways and is something which the teams need to analyze and study about his action. Over a period of time the batters will find ways to play and counter them. This is what the batters in the past did when they played Muttiah Muralitharan, Lasith Malinga (sling action), Paul Adams (rare action) and Ajantha Mendis (carrom ball),’’ felt Shivram.
VK feels the bowler cannot stop in delivery stride
However, VK Ramaswamy, a former veteran international umpire, feels the bowler cannot stop in the delivery strides. He says it should be called a dead ball.
“Once he stops, the umpire should call it a dead ball, but the umpire has to be very quick. The batter can raise a point saying the bowler has not delivered. Ashwin says it is right, but the umpire should be quick enough to call it a dead ball. If the bowler continues to stop and bowler, then the umpire should warn the bowler.”
“I have not seen him but if the bowler pauses and bowls then the umpire should take action. The batter can point it out to the umpire or move away saying that the bowler has not delivered the ball. In which case, the umpire can swing into action as a time waste. But then this is a matter of debate and questioned,” he said.
Shamsuddin, a former international umpire, opined that there is nothing wrong in Tariq’s pause. “It is a normal action. He is taking pause to every delivery. That is no problem and he is within the rules. The law says you cannot bend your arm once it reaches the level of the shoulder. After that, the arm should not be tilted. Once the arm bends or tilts, it is then called chucking. Here the arm should not be below the level of the shoulder. Malinga has a sling action even Kedar Jadhav bowled these types of low arm action delivery.’’
Even as the controversy rages, Tariq’s rendezvous with destiny will continue for quite some time now.
