Wahab Riaz

Wahab Riaz was born on 28 June 1985.[5] His father, Muhammad Sikandar Riaz Kasana (Gujjar), was a businessman.[6] His nickname is Vicky, and he was educated at Aitchison college. His hometown is Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Riaz is married to Zainab Chaudhary and together they have a daughter whose name is Eshal. He is a practicing Muslim and his nationality is Pakistani.[5]

Riaz was chosen in the squad for the tri-series in Bangladesh which also included India. In his first match against Bangladesh, he finished with 3 wickets for 22 runs in 7 overs. In the next match although he took two Indian wickets he conceded 85 runs.

Riaz made his Test debut against England in the third test of the 2010 series. England batted first and Riaz took 5/63 in the first innings. In Pakistan's first innings he came into bat at number 3 and made 27 runs.[7]

He next played for Pakistan in the Test series against South Africa in October 2010 he participated in 4 ODIs. He was selected to play in the first Test later in that series he took two wickets those of Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla however towards the end of the day he picked up a side strain. He did not bowl the following day. A scan showed that Riaz had picked up an injury which takes 4–5 weeks to recover from and thus he missed the rest of the Test series.[8]

In March 2011 he played for the Pakistani team in at least four matches with an above average performance. However he really came in the limelight at the Pakistan vs India semi-final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, when he replaced Shoaib Akhtar and took 5 wickets.[9]

Shortly after the World Cup, Pakistan toured the West Indies for two Tests, five ODIs, and a T20I; Riaz was included in the squad.[10] He took two wickets in the T20I, which Pakistan lost,[11] and played in four out of the five ODIs, taking seven wickets at an average of 25.28 and finishing as Pakistan's leading wicket-taker in the series.[12] In a report to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on the team's performance in the West Indies, coach Waqar Younis commented that Riaz had an "average" tour.[13] In May Pakistan toured Ireland for a two-match ODI series, and although Riaz was included in the squad he did not play a match.[14][15]

After the tour of Ireland, Riaz entered talks with Kent, eventually signing to play for them in county cricket. The club had suffered injuries to their fast bowlers and Riaz was drafted in to bolster their line up.[16] He made his twenty20 debut for Kent against Glamorgan on 11 June. He took a single wicket, that of Chris Cooke, and guided his team to victory with 32 not out, hitting the winning runs after being sent in up the order.[17] On his home debut Riaz took a hat-trick – dismissing Chris Taylor, Ed Young, and Richard Coughtrie – and recording figures of 5 wickets for 17 runs (5/17) against Gloucestershire to help his team to an eight-wicket victory. It was the second time a player had taken a T20 hat-trick for Kent,[18] and was the first time Riaz took five wickets in the format, beating previous best bowling figures of 3/14.[19] During his spell with Kent Riaz took 13 first-class wickets at an average of 33.53,[20] 9 in list A cricket at 13.33,[21] and 20 wickets in t20 matches at an average of 19.85.[22]

In August, Riaz was awarded a category B central contract with the PCB; six players were in category A, eight (including Riaz) in B, and nine in C.[23] When Pakistan toured Zimbabwe in September, Riaz was rested with the selectors taking the opportunity to blood a number of new and inexperienced players.[24] Though recalled to the Test squad for the three-match series against Sri Lanka,[25] he did not play in the series[26] and was dropped from the ODI squad to face the same opponents.[27] Originally rested from the Test team to give younger players a chance,[24] Riaz's hiatus from the squad extended to six months. His continued absence was not explained by the PCB. He was recalled to Pakistan's Test squad to face England for three matches in the United Arab Emirates. While he was out of the side, Riaz played for the National Bank of Pakistan in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy. Before the squad was announced he had taken 30 wickets in the competition at an average of 24.86, and 213 runs at an average of 35.50.[28]

On 30 August 2016, he conceded 110 runs in his stipulated 10 overs, which is the second worst figures ever in ODIs.[29]

In April 2018, he was named in Punjab's squad for the 2018 Pakistan Cup.[30][31] In March 2019, he was named in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's squad for the 2019 Pakistan Cup.[32][33] He was the joint-leading wicket-taker in the tournament, with ten dismissals in five matches.[34]

In June 2020, he was named in a 29-man squad for Pakistan's tour to England during the COVID-19 pandemic.[35][36] However, on 23 June 2020, Riaz was one of seven players from Pakistan's squad to test positive for COVID-19.[37]

In January 2015, he was named in Pakistan's squad for the 2015 Cricket World Cup, after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) named their final fifteen-man squad for the tournament.[38]

In Pakistan's opening matches, the tall left-arm pacer took 1 wicket each against India & West Indies. He followed by a man of the match performance against Zimbabwe in which he scored 54 not out off 46 balls and took 4 wickets. Against UAE, he scored a six off the only ball he faced before taking another two wickets. He followed it up by taking another three wickets versus South Africa, which included important wickets of Amla & Rossouw as well the late-inning wicket that won his team the game. He took another three wickets against Ireland in Pakistan's last group game. In the quarterfinal match against Australia, Riaz bowled a very aggressive spell during which he took Australian skipper Michael Clarke's wicket and, then, showed some aggressive interaction by sarcastic clapping and a flying kiss to Shane Watson.[39][40] ICC fined Riaz for the behavior.[41]

Riaz's spell against Australia won him plaudits from numerous cricketers past and present,[42] with Michael Clarke referring to Riaz's performance 'as good as I've faced in ODI cricket for a long time'[43] and Kevin Pietersen describing the spell as the "Best spell of bowling by a foreigner on Aussie soil for years".[44]

In the match, Watson scored 64 runs off 66 balls, when Riaz was bowling his fiery spell against Shane Watson, he was dropped at 4 runs by Rahat Ali at fine leg off a 145kmh Riaz bouncer. Australia won the match by six wickets[45] but after the match Riaz became a trend on Twitter. Brian Lara tweeted "I want to meet with this Riaz guy," adding that he would pay the fine imposed on Riaz by the ICC for his verbals at Watson.

Riaz, then, invited Brian Lara to Pakistan through Twitter.[45][46][47][48][49]

In May 2019, he was named in Pakistan's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup, after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) named their final fifteen-man squad for the tournament.[50][51]

He was a regular starter throughout the tournament and took 11 wickets in 8 games at a very good 36.3 balls per wicket rate but he was fairly expensive.

During the tournament, he became Pakistan's 2nd highest wicket-taker in World Cup history going past Imran Khan's tally of 34 wickets.[52]

Riaz was allocated as a Platinum category player in the 2016 Pakistan Super League players draft. He was bought by Peshawar Zalmi for $140,000 for the 2016 competition.[53]

During a group stage match in 2016 against Quetta Gladiators, Riaz had an exchange of words and a physical tussle with batsman Ahmed Shehzad. The Pakistan Cricket Board imposed a fine on both the players and issued an official warning to them.[54]

He was retained by Zalmi for the second PSL season in 2017. Peshawar won the 2017 competition and, as of the end of the 2017 PSL, Riaz is the leading wicket-taker with 30 wickets in 19 matches.[55]

In September 2018, he was named in Kandahar's squad in the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament.[56] In June 2019, he was selected to play for the Brampton Wolves franchise team in the 2019 Global T20 Canada tournament.[57] In September 2019, he was named in the squad for the Cape Town Blitz team for the 2019 Mzansi Super League tournament.[58] In November 2019, he was selected to play for the Dhaka Platoon in the 2019–20 Bangladesh Premier League.[59]

• List of Pakistan cricketers who have taken five-wicket hauls on Test debut

• Wahab Riaz at ESPNcricinfo
• Wahab Riaz at Pakistan Cricket Board