3 min readMar 14, 2026 09:20 PM IST
Aaqib Javed, chief selector of the Pakistan cricket team compared India’s stalwart Jasprit Bumrah to the Men in Green’s Usman Tariq, saying that the Indian possesses a unique bowling action that doesn’t allow opposition batters to settle into a rhythm.
Tariq, who was tipped to be Pakistan’s main bowling weapon, couldn’t do much to help his team who were eliminated from the semifinals while Bumrah starred for India as they went on to win their third T20 World Cup.
“You look at this entire T20 World Cup — there is only one bowler, Bumrah, who is also now going for runs. Because he doesn’t have a normal action and has a different bowling action, he doesn’t allow batters to gain rhythm or get into a flow. I would say he is fast bowling’s Usman Tariq,” he said in a press-conference on Saturday.
Bumrah has played 95 T20 Internationals and taken 121 wickets, while Usman has featured in only nine matches, claiming 18 scalps.
Pakistan had a disappointing 2026 World Cup campaign, failing to reach the semifinals even after playing all their matches in Sri Lanka. They started with a narrow 7-wicket win over Netherlands, followed by a 32-run victory over USA. Then they fell to arch-rivals India by 61 runs and ended their group stage commitments with a 102-run win vs Namibia.
Their first match of the Super 8s vs New Zealand was abandoned and things became harder for them after their loss to England. They could have still made it to the semis if they had defeated Sri Lanka by a specific margin to overhaul New Zealand’s run rate but ultimately fell short and exited the tournament.
Pakistan’s maiden ICC trophy was in 1992, when the Imran Khan led them to victory in the World Cup. They won the 2009 T20 World Cup with a win over Sri Lanka in England and then won their third and last ICC trophy in the form of the 2017 Champions Trophy.
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The last time Pakistan reached an ICC tournament final was in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, where they lost to England. Post that final loss, Pakistan have not been able to reach the semi-finals. In the 2024 T20 World Cup as well 2025 ICC Champion Trophy, Pakistan did not reach the knock-out stage.
