Pakistan pacer Wahab Riaz has asked his former coach Waqar Younis to go easy on him. The out of favour Pakistan cricketer is currently doing the hard yards in domestic cricket to stage his comeback into the national team.
Riaz featured for Peshawar Zalmi in the 2020 edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL). During the tournament, Riaz managed to pick up 11 wickets in the nine matches.
“My firm belief is that you have got cricket left in you, you just keep working hard and Pakistan always need you. There is no match for experience when it comes to any form of the game. I think you still have the desire that you want to play for Pakistan. If you keep that hunger, it will bring you back,” Younis according to Cricket Pakistan.
The 34-year old Lahore born cricketer last played for Pakistan back in November 2019 during a T20I in Canberra against Australia. He has been out of reckoning in the longer formats of the game for quite a while now, in the presence of Shaheen Shah Afridi, and other talented left-handed pace bowlers in the country.
“That’s what my motive is, and I will keep doing it, but please go easy on me. At times, you get so angry with me when I don’t do good; you don’t even talk to me for a long time,” Wahab replied.
To which Waqar Younis replied by saying that he gets angry being aware of Riaz’s potential. “I get angry because I have spent time with you since your childhood. I know you are capable, but sometimes you don’t do what is required,” replied the former Pakistani bowler who terrorized batsmen in the 90s and the early 2000s.
The T20 league wayfarer has donned the colours of various franchises including Barbados Tridents, Brampton Wolves, and Dhaka Platoon, concentrating solely on the shortest format of the game.