Usman Tariq: From Cutting Onions in Dubai to Becoming Pakistan’s Ace Spinner

Pakistan spinner Usman Tariq’s rise to the international stage has been anything but straightforward. In an interview with The National, his cousin Haseeb Ur Rahman has shared a behind-the-scenes account of a journey shaped by hardship, migration, and a series of high-stakes decisions that ultimately paved the way to the Pakistan team.

The story has resurfaced at a time when Usman Tariq is also dealing with fresh scrutiny. During a recent T20 match against Pakistan, Australia all-rounder Cameron Green appeared to raise questions about the legality of Tariq’s bowling action.

The moment echoed an earlier incident from the ILT20 in Abu Dhabi, where England batter Tom Banton made similar remarks. Tariq has largely kept his response measured, something Haseeb says is rooted in the kind of pressure his cousin has been living with for most of his life.

Now 30, Tariq is preparing for the T20 World Cup, as Pakistan simultaneously navigate off-field turbulence after government instructions to skip a match against India. But Haseeb insists that stressful situations don’t shake Tariq easily.

“He is like a gladiator,” Haseeb said, adding that his cousin has always found a way through the toughest phases.

Haseeb and Tariq grew up together in Peshawar, where life became even more difficult after Tariq lost his father at a young age. With finances tight, Tariq began looking for work early. As a teenager, he even traveled to Kabul hoping to find employment, braving harsh weather and repeated disappointments.

From there, his path took him to the UAE. Tariq followed Haseeb to Dubai, lived in labor accommodations near Sonapur, and worked long shifts in a hotel kitchen, at one point spending his days cutting onions to make ends meet.

Even when the grind wore him down, cricket never really left him. He later found a more stable job at a car parts company, but the routine made it harder to chase the sport seriously. Still, he kept playing whenever he could.

A key moment came in the early PSL years when Tariq attended a Peshawar Zalmi talent hunt in Dubai. He reportedly impressed, but his work commitments meant he couldn’t continue the pathway at the time.

Around the same period, street cricket in Deira pushed another turning point: Tariq moved away from pace bowling and began focusing on spin, developing a style that quickly started troubling batters.

In 2017, he made what his cousin describes as the biggest gamble of his life, leaving his UAE job and returning to Pakistan to pursue cricket full-time, despite being the main earner for his family. Haseeb said Tariq believed that bigger risks carried bigger rewards.

The bet worked. Tariq has since built a strong T20 career, claimed a hat-trick in just his second international match for Pakistan, and played a significant role in Desert Vipers’ ILT20 title-winning campaign, a far cry from the kitchen shifts and cramped quarters that once defined his daily life.

Source: The National