As of the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, Pakistani bowler Usman Tariq’s unconventional delivery action, which includes bowling with a bent elbow and an unusually long pause mid-stride, has not been officially deemed illegal. He has been reported twice for a suspect action in different editions of the Pakistan Super League, the country’s domestic Twenty20 franchise. However, on both occasions, Tariq passed tests conducted by the Pakistan Cricket Board to assess whether his bowling action broke the rules. Tariq is also not the first bowler to deliberately pause midway through the delivery action. Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is among the bowlers who have utilized the tactic on occasion. While the International Cricket Council has asked match officials to determine whether a mid-action pause by a bowler can be considered “unfair play” in the past, it has never explicitly been outlawed.
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