In our latest piece, we look at whether or not Wahab Riaz deserves a place in the Pakistan playing XI.

by Ammaar Reshi (28 July 2013)

Before I begin this piece, I want to make it very clear to fans out there that I am not writing-off Wahab Riaz - he's the guy is in my avatar! I am merely analysing where he stands and whether, in my opinion, he deserves a place in the Pakistan side.

If there’s one thing our cricket team is famous for, it’s our bowling attack. They are formidable match-winners, who can single-handedly turn the game in Pakistan’s favour. So, when the standard of that attack falls due to a poor individual performances, the composition of the attack needs to be revisited. 

Wahab Riaz has been a part of the Pakistan team for some time now, yet his performances haven’t necessarily been the most consistent. In the recently-concluded ODI series against the West Indies, Wahab Riaz conceded a total of 150 runs with an average economy of 5.05. He’s been expensive. His economy rate is only as low as that because in one match he managed to concede a miserly 8 runs from 5 overs. However, as I have already mentioned, this is not something consistent in Wahab's performances. 

In the frustrating ODI at St. Lucia, which Pakistan drew, Wahab Riaz’s appalling last over showed that despite the experience he has had with the side, he cannot bowl at the death. When you concede 15 runs to a number 10 and 11 in six balls, you are definitely doing something wrong. Riaz, as most may have assumed, would be a good bowling option for Pakistan because of his express pace. He is able to consistently hit around the 145+kph mark, as he showed in his impressive maiden over against the West Indies in the Champions Trophy. Yet the same Wahab was bowling at 130 KPH medium pace in this recent West Indies series. Why would a bowler reduce his pace when he has the ability to bamboozle batsmen with express pace? One could argue that Wahab is merely trying to gain more control with his line and length, since he is known to spray the ball around at extreme pace. However from what we saw, when he isn’t bowling fast, he seems to be further losing control, so much so that the number 10 and 11 made it look easy smashing him for fours and sixes in the final over of a match that seemed to be Pakistan’s for more than half of the innings.

Another important point comes to mind; the bowling from Riaz lacks guile. A player like him has immense experience on the international stage. He has represented Pakistan in the World Cup, obliterating a formidable Indian batting attack and achieving a career-best in a World Cup semi-final. You’d think a bowler with a record like that, two years down the line would be spear-heading his country’s attack. Yet he is predictable, he is expensive, and bowls according to his mood and not the field setting. One would have hoped he could have cemented his place in the side and replaced Umar Gul as the senior bowler.

With the above point in mind, I want to compare him to West Indian express bowler, Tino Best. Tino crosses the 150kph mark, is also regarded as a spray gun, but equally capable of ripping through a bowling attack. 
 
Below is a comparison table:


As you can see, Wahab has played more matches and is slightly more expensive than Tino when it comes to economy rate. 

Of late, the reason I rate Tino higher than him is because of the way the latter can bounce back. When Pakistan played the final match of the ODI series against West Indies, Tino gave away a hat-trick of fours in his first over. He was all over the place and being punished every time he came on. Half-way through the innings, Bravo brought him back and we saw an incredibly challenging Tino Best, who was giving the same batsmen that whacked him for fours earlier an extremely tough time. The point here is, he bounced back. He realised what he was doing wrong during the match, and in his next spell ended up with the best bowling figures on the scorecard for the West Indies. Very rarely have we seen Wahab do this. If it’s his day, he will blow you away (Mohali), and if it isn’t, he will exceed 93 runs (don’t forget the “comeback” in Johannesburg).

So, I ask you, does Wahab Riaz really deserve a place in the XI?

It seems Misbah gives him a place in the side more for his batting than bowling but the point is his primary role is of a bowler - you cannot expect him to win the match with the bat. If that’s the only reason he is in the playing XI, then it's some horrible-decision making. When we have players like Asad Ali on the bench, who can bowl excellent yorkers at the death, and other emerging talents like Ehsan Adil, with Junaid and Irfan spearheading a very powerful bowling attack, Wahab’s place, for me, is non-existent. I would love to see him make a comeback, but how many chances does he deserve?

  Discuss!