Wahab Riaz: “After he died, I had to take responsibility and deal with everything”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Pakistan left-arm seamer Wahab Riaz has revealed that cricket no longer became a priority for him after his father died in February 2017.

Wahab admitted that he struggled to cope with the loss of his father as he had to assume his role as head of the family.

The 34-year-old admitted that it took him eight months to get to grips with the fact that he had to now shoulder the responsibility his father had carried.

“It broke me because I loved my father dearly and he had never put any responsibility on my shoulders – not me or anyone in the house,” Wahab was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “After he died, I had to take responsibility and deal with everything.”

Since his focus was mainly centered towards his family, Wahab attention on cricket waned and he subsequently lost his place in the Pakistan team.

“I lost my place in the Pakistan team because I was not concentrating that much on cricket,” he said.

However, Wahab has enjoyed an incredible resurgence as of late as he was included in the World Cup squad after initially being overlooked for the list of 23 probables.

In the World Cup, Wahab has taken 10 wickets in seven matches at an average of 36.70.

He also scored a crucial 15 not out, which included a vital boundary and six, in Pakistan’s thrilling three-wicket win over Afghanistan with just two balls to spare.

While that victory kept Pakistan’s hopes of qualifying for the World Cup semi-finals alive, the men in green now face a monumental task of reaching the last four as they have to crush Bangladesh by a massive margin at Lord’s on Friday.

If they fail to do this, New Zealand will join Australia, India and England in the semi-finals.

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