Pakistan pacer Wahab Riaz who had to face lot of flak for quiting Test cricket has said that he didn’t retire from longest format of the game for money.
Wahab Riaz, soon after pacer Mohammad Amir’s retirement from the longest format last year, had followed suit and made himself unavailable, inviting a ton of criticism from fans and experts, some of whom even claimed the two were ditching the country at a time when it needed them the most.
“There is a false impression that we have given up red-ball cricket to make money from leagues. There is no such thing. We have always preferred to play for Pakistan and our decision should be respected,” Wahab Riaz was quoted by Geo Super.
“Since 2017, I was not even a regular fixture of the Test squad. I had barely played a Test,” Wahab Riaz said.
In the recently handed central contracts by PCB,Riaz and Amir were the notable absentees. Riaz cannot discount the possibility of them being “exemplified”.
“It is possible that we have been exemplified for quitting red-ball cricket or maybe the PCB wanted to give a chance to young fast bowlers and groom them by keeping them centrally contracted,” he said.