Pakistan’s Wahab Riaz registered his maiden T20 half-century on Thursday but still ended up on the losing side during Derbyshire’s Vitality T20 Blast clash against Nottinghamshire.
The Pakistan pacer once again batted at No3 in the Derbyshire batting order following his knock of 42 in his side’s last clash against Yorkshire. That move paid off with Riaz slogging his way to a 31-ball 53 which included four boundaries and as many sixes.
Riaz’s pinch-hitting innings had put Derbyshire on track in their chase of Nottinghamshire’s 166-5. They looked to be cruising in the chase with Riaz and Wayne Madsen at the crease with the score at 93-2.
However, the introduction of New Zealand’s Ish Sodhi into the bowling attack changed the complexion of the match completely with the leg-spinner’s four-wicket burst derailing Derbyshire’s innings.
Riaz’s innings contained four boundaries and four sixes.
Sodhi had Riaz caught behind before castling Gary Wilson for a duck in the same over. He removed Madsen with his next over to trigger a middle-order collapse which Derbyshire could not recover from.
In the end, Derbyshire fell nine runs short of Nottinghamshire’s total after they could only muster 157-8 in their 20 overs.
Riaz has not featured for Pakistan across any format since his appearance in the Test against Sri Lanka in October, 2017.
Riaz had not been picked for the 25-man probables for Pakistan’s tour of Ireland and England earlier this summer. His place in the Pakistan side was called into question by head coach Mickey Arthur who had commented that the pacer had not won the side any game for over two years.
The 33-year-old has previously registered two half-centuries for Pakistan in the ODI format.
