Usman Tariq Gives Full Credit To MS Dhoni; Ignores Pakistan For Career Growth

MS Dhoni and Usman Tariq [Source: AFP]

Usman Tariq has been the talk of the town recently, whether it be his controversial and peculiar bowling action or the ‘chucking’ controversy. Debuting in 2025 for Pakistan, Tariq was a late bloomer at the age of 28. However, the Pakistan bowler credited MS Dhoni for his rise.

While, due to the recent geopolitical controversy, many Pakistani players have avoided crediting any Indian player, Usman Tariq proudly acknowledged the effect of MS Dhoni on his life and how he helped him not to lose hope even at the age when cricketing hopes usually fade.

Usman Tariq And the Dhoni Connection

Earlier, Tariq had credited the Indian veteran for inspiring him. MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, which came out in 2016, had parts of his biopic that influenced Tariq to not lose hope.

As per Tariq, it motivated him to keep grinding and eyeing the national team even after he crossed the golden age of playing cricket. Partly, Tariq’s struggles, according to him, reflect Dhoni’s journey.

Tariq Reveals Real Inspiration Behind Successful Cricket Career

Speaking on a podcast, Tariq shared how he started his journey without any support. He admitted that he only received backlash for his passion to play cricket.

“And from the first of January, I joined the ground. At that time, the support from the senior people in our district or the MLA sir, whoever they were, used to say, “Man, there’s no place for him right now, it’s already too late.”

So you know that in Pakistan, when we don’t come into our retainers at sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, it becomes very difficult to make a place in the system or to play cricket. But I had a belief in one thing — there was clarity of mind that I have to play cricket, and nothing else matters to me at all,” Usman Tariq shared on the podcast.

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Tariq then cited MS Dhoni by the movie he watched, indicating that he took inspiration from Dhoni’s journey from a middle-class government job worker to becoming one of the most famous Indian cricketers, to be what he is today.

“When I saw that Dhoni had gone through something like my own phase, I thought he is also a human being, if he can do it, then why can’t I? So I tried, and I kept trying. After that, I started playing cricket.

Then in between, there were also issues like the setup kept changing. Unfortunately, this keeps happening a bit in Pakistan — when a new system comes in, new people come in and take things in a different direction,” Tariq added.

Parallels Between The Untold Story Of MS Dhoni and Usman Tariq

Before his meteoric rise, he was working in a very basic railway job. Back in 2001 to 2003, Dhoni's early 20s were defined by his role as a travelling ticket examiner at the Kharagpur railway station in West Bengal.

MS Dhoni worked long hours checking tickets on trains. He also lived in humble quarters before, in 2003, he felt stagnated in his career and gave a railway trial in Delhi. He quit his secure government job to focus entirely on cricket, and then the rest is history.

Tariq's Early Struggles

Usman Tariq's life too wasn't as smooth and reflected some parallels of Dhoni's life. Tariq lost his father when he was not even four years old.

He became the sole breadwinner of his family and had to give up his cricketing dream to support them. Born in the districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he moved to the United Arab Emirates as a salesman in 2015.

In late 2016, after watching MS Dhoni, according to him, and relating to Dhoni's struggles as a ticket collector, he decided to follow his calling, quitting his job and joining a cricket academy in Nowshera, where he played local club matches to afford his living costs.

Tariq’s Rise In Cricket

His rise since then has been phenomenal. He has played 53 T20 games where he has scalped 82 wickets at a solid economy rate of 6.87.

In nine international games for Pakistan national cricket team, he managed to pick 18 wickets while bowling at a very tight economy rate of 6.66 and a strike rate of 10.

Currently playing in Pakistan Super League 2026, Usman Tariq has been underwhelming, picking only two wickets from his three matches for Quetta Gladiators. However, he will aim to bounce back soon, given his promising potential.

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