One of the great virtues of Pakistani fast bowler Wahab Riaz is that he manages to remind himself with his effective bowling spell when people are starting to forget him and critics prepare themselves to criticize him.
Wahab Riaz has not been seen giving any great performance in his career that would make him one of the top fast bowlers in the world.
Fast bowler Mohammad Aamir, who came after him, also surpassed him in terms of wickets, but somewhere, sometimes there are matches on which Wahab Riaz’s mark is clearly visible.
Downfall
Wahab Riaz’s international career has been full of ups and downs.
Sometimes Mickey Arthur is found saying about him that Wahab Riaz has never won a match for Pakistan.
Sometimes Inzamam-Ul-Haq is seen expressing distrust in him and sometimes Misbah-Ul-Haq and Waqar Younis are angry with him.
There was a time when Wahab Riaz was the lifeline of Pakistani bowling in all three formats, but then suddenly when he restricted himself to limited overs cricket and lost his central contract.
But the only thing on Wahab Riaz’s mind is that he has to perform whenever the ball comes in his hands.
He is also aware of the fact that Pakistani bowling have several options and there is fierce competition among fast bowlers.
Looking at Wahab Riaz’s recent performance, he seems to be fully prepared for this challenge.
No, it is well known that at present Pakistan has a lot of fast bowling options and there is fierce competition among all bowlers. Looking at Wahab Riaz’s recent performance, he seems to be fully prepared for this challenge.
He only got a chance to play in the T20 series on the last day of the tour.
But he played an important role in leading the Pakistani team to the only victory of the tour with his powerful bowling.
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Man of the Match against England in 2016
Wahab Riaz’s bowling played a decisive role in Pakistan’s lone T20 victory in the only T20 International between Pakistan and England at Old Trafford in 2016.
Batting first, England scored 137 for seven. Wahab Riaz took the wickets of captain Owen Morgan, Jose Butler and David Willie for just 18 runs and was declared the man of the match.
Williamson And Manro’s Key Wickets In 2016
Pakistan won the T20 International against New Zealand by 16 runs in Auckland.
Wahab Riaz took three wickets for 34 runs, including the key wickets of captain Williamson and Colin Manro, who scored 70 and 56 runs respectively.
Colin Monroe took his side’s score to 86 in just 10 overs, while Williamson was on the crease at the start of the last over of the innings and New Zealand needed 20 runs to win. But Wahab dismissed Williamson and then Trent Bolt in this over.
Scored A Fifty Along Four Wickets In The 2015 World Cup
The Pakistani team was in state of losing against Zimbabwe after losing to India and the West Indies. At one point, Six wickets had fallen to just 155 runs.
Wahab Riaz’s batting came in handy as he added a valuable 47 for the seventh wicket with captain Misbah-Ul-Haq and then added another 33 with Sohail Khan.
After his first ODI half-century, Wahab Riaz also had an equal share in bowling with Mohammad Irfan. Their four wickets ensured Pakistan’s 20-run victory. Wahab Riaz was the man of the match.
Famous Spell Against Shane Watson
Although Pakistan lost by six wickets to Australia in the quarter-finals of the same World Cup, people still remember Wahab Riaz’s bowling spell in which he faced Shane Watson.
In this match, Wahab Riaz took the wickets of David Warner and captain Michael Clarke. He would have managed to get the wicket of Shane Watson but Rahat Ali had dropped the catch in the fine league.
Wahab Riaz’s enthusiasm against Watson was strong. Watson was disturbed by their bouncers and short pitch balls and there was an exchange of words and gestures between the two.
That is why ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle had fined both the players.
An interesting aspect of all this was that former West Indies batsman Brian Lara called the fine ridiculous and offered that he would be happy to pay Wahab Riaz’s fine.
Hit A Six With Broken Finger In The 2019 World Cup
Wahab Riaz was not included in the announced squad for the World Cup but later he and Mohammad Amir became part of the team. Wahab Riaz took 11 wickets in this World Cup.
The score sheet of the match against Afghanistan at Headingley shows Wahab Riaz’s two wickets and 15 not out, but in fact these 15 runs were as valuable as the man-of-the-match Imad Wasim’s 49 not out, which ensured the victory of Pakistan by three wickets.
Chasing the target of 228 runs, the seventh wicket of the Pakistani team fell in the 47th over and the score was 206 runs.
On this occasion, Wahab Riaz, who was playing the match with the broken finger of his right hand, showed his work in a short C innings of 15 runs consisting of only 9 balls.
In this innings, who can forget his four on the cover and six on the mid-wicket on the balls of world class sniper Rashid Khan.
