I Want To Win A World Cup With Pakistan Before Retiring: Wahab Riaz

Pakistan veteran left-arm seamer Wahab Riaz had straight away made an impact in the first World Cup tournament of his career. Wahab Riaz took a five-wicket haul in the 2011 World Cup semi-final against India at Mohali, dismissing the likes of Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, and Zaheer Khan en route to that. However, the 35-year old has not even come close to being part of a World Cup-winning squad yet but wishes to be before retiring, as revealed to Cricket Pakistan.

Wahab Riaz has been one of the gun pacers to emerge out of Pakistan. While the veteran has had form and injury problems throughout his career, he remains a big-match performer and can deliver long, incredible bowling spells tirelessly. Four years after taking a fifer against India, albeit in a losing effort, Riaz was in the middle of another remarkable spell against Australia all-rounder Shane Watson.

The Adelaide Oval witnessed Riaz bowling at his brutal best, testing the hosts with his short-pitched bowling as Pakistan pulled all the stomps to defend a modest 214 in the quarter-final. His face-off with Watson was noteworthy as he kept sticking to nagging line and length, making it challenging for the right-handed batsman to get away.

Though Watson scored a match-winning fifty to take Australia home by six wickets, he could have departed much earlier had Rahat Ali held on to a simple chance off Riaz’s bowling. As Australia were inches away from a resounding victory, Wahab Riaz’s frustrations kept mounting and dished out swear words on him. He finished with figures of 9-0-54-2 in that game. While Wahab has not been part of Pakistan’s recent T20 games, he will likely get the nod for the World Cup later this year as the men in green look for their second title in the format.

Wahab Riaz to play in the Pakistan Super League next month:

Wahab Riaz will make a comeback to professional cricket next month when the sixth season of the Pakistan Super League resumes next month after it was postponed in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Peshawar Zalmi speedster was the fourth highest wicket-taker this year with eight wickets in four games at 19.50. Riaz’s 84 wickets in 59 PSL matches at 18.73. are also the highest in the tournament history

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