When Cameron Green stroppily imitated the motion of a baseball pitcher, having been dismissed in Australia’s T20 against Pakistan at the weekend, Usman Tariq might have thought: here we go again.
It had scarcely been a month since the last time someone did that. At the ILT20 in Abu Dhabi, England batter Tom Banton had made a similar chucking action, and accused the Pakistani mystery spinner of throwing.
The good humour with which Tariq has met those accusations tells a story. He has faced far bigger issues in life than people openly questioning the legitimacy of his bowling action on a cricket field.
Following a stratospheric rise in the sport, the 30-year-old spinner is now carrying the weight of expectations for Pakistan at the T20 World Cup.
Just like him, the side he represents is well used to dealing with troubles. Pakistan are entering the tournament embroiled in controversy, after their government instructed them to sit out their game against India.
Tariq will rise to the challenge, according to Haseeb Ur Rahman, his cousin and best friend since childhood. “He is like a gladiator, always fighting in the tough times and hard situations,” Haseeb said.
Haseeb has the stories to back up the claim. Plenty of them. The duo have shared a life of ups and downs since growing up together in Peshawar.
Largely, it has been a struggle, looking for work at home, then abroad in places as diverse as Dubai and Kabul. Now Tariq is reaping the benefits of foregoing work in the UAE for one last crack at cricket in his home country.
“It was a very risky and a bold step to leave the job while you are the only source of [income for] your family,” Haseeb said of Tariq’s decision to return to Pakistan from Dubai nine years ago.
“His father had died at a very early age and he was having financial difficulties. He always took such blunt and bold steps. But, the higher the risk, the higher the returns.
“He was like a crazy person who had hunger in his eyes to do something special. That's what he has done and now the world can see the results.”
Tariq has enjoyed success across the world in T20 franchise cricket. He has risen to Pakistan’s national team, taken a hat-trick in his second match, and been inked into their squad for the T20 World Cup.
All of which is a world away from the life he used to lead. While still a teenager, financial difficulties at home meant he had to look abroad for work. Haseeb, five years his senior, had by then lived in Kabul for some time, finding employment in the non-governmental organisations that had proliferated after the United States had overthrown the Taliban.
“It was minus degrees, snow on the floor, and he was job hunting, visiting different companies, different organisations,” Haseeb said of a teenaged Tariq coming to visit him in Afghanistan.
“I requested my boss to find a place for him in this project somewhere, but he was not willing and he was making excuses.
“I said, OK, the salary which you are paying me, you can just pay a portion of that to him. At least that would put his mind at rest, and there would be no need to tell him that you are paying from my salary. But that also didn't work.”
Tariq returned to Pakistan, but when Haseeb then moved to Dubai, he followed him again. He lived in labourer accommodation near a cemetery in Sonapur near Al Qusais, landing a job chopping vegetables in a hotel kitchen.
“Cutting onions is not an easy job; your eyes will be full of tears, and he started getting back pain, too,” said Haseeb.
The job did not last, but Tariq stayed on in the UAE, taking another role in the procurement department of car parts company. It meant continued income, as well as the chance to stay living near Haseeb.
Then the spark for cricket he had had since childhood was rekindled. The Pakistan Super League – which had its genesis in Dubai because of security issues at home at that time – was in its second season.
Peshawar Zalmi organised a talent hunt at the Pakistan Association in Oud Metha, and Tariq wanted to try his luck.
“He thought maybe they will give him a chance, because in PSL there is one category for emerging players,” Haseeb said.
“It was a weekend and I told him, OK, we can go. The place where the talent hunt was happening was far away from our place.
"We went there in the evening and there were so many people who came to grab the opportunity. Usman was one of them and he got the chance to bowl six balls.
“Whoever impressed the selectors got to complete the full over. Usman got that, and he impressed them.”
He was invited to the next round of trials, which took the form of a tournament in Dubai, but it clashed with work at the car parts company.
“He was the sole bread earner for his family, therefore he couldn't take the risk to go there,” Haseeb said.
“Where he was working, the environment was very conservative. There was office politics, some people were not in favour of him, and always wanted the opportunity to let him down. But mentally, he was such a strong lad.”
As the chance came and went, Tariq’s cricket underwent a change, too. The duo joined a regular street cricket match near the Hyatt Regency hotel in Deira, at which point Tariq switched from fast bowling to slow. He developed a homespun method that is unlike anything else in the game.
“From there, I noticed that the batsman was reluctant to play against him,” Haseeb said.
“With the passage of time, he was getting more wickets than when he was bowling fast. It was his hidden talent. There are very rarely spin bowlers who are that tall.”
The missed chance with Peshawar Zalmi gnawed away at Tariq. When his mother subsequently fell ill, he gave up his job in Dubai, headed home, and devoted himself to the ambition of making his family proud through cricket instead.
“When he was leaving the UAE in 2017, I told him, I don't know how you are going to survive because the job you got here is the very best opportunity,” Haseeb said.
“But he was very, very determined and he told me, ‘No, I will not look back again. I will try, and I will work so much harder for the purpose for which I am going. I will definitely fulfil it.'
“From there, he worked day and night, no matter the weather, no matter the conditions. He was like a crazy person who was hungry to reach the place where he has always wanted to get to.
“Luckily, he was successful and he achieved the objectives for which he left this country. In Pakistan, cricket is the only field if you want the nation to be proud of you.”
No one is prouder of Tariq's rise in the sport than Haseeb, who is now the head of compliance at a finance company in Dubai. He got to see his lifelong mate’s most recent success in the flesh, when he attended the final of the ILT20 at Dubai International Stadium, which Tariq won with the Desert Vipers.
“He always had this determination in his heart to do something for his family and to make him, to make his family proud,” said Haseeb.
“He was always a genius, but he was not a type of person who was interested in studies. Cricket has been the last chance, the last resort for him where he could complete his dreams and where he could make his family proud. And that's what he has done.”
