Wahab Riaz joins Surrey and is set to play alongside Pietersen

Wahab’s spell against Australia in WC quaterfinals made him a distincitive figure

Pakistan’s fiery left-arm pacer Wahab Riaz has signed on to play for the professional English county cricket club Surrey this season. He will join the maverick Englishman Kevin Pietersen who made a deal with the club two weeks back.

"As far as county cricket is concerned, I am going to play it again this year," said Riaz soon after he signed the contract with the English club. He also added, “My priority is to play for the national team. I have signed with Surrey to play a couple of Twenty20 matches. As Pakistan will be busy playing in Bangladesh and then in Sri Lanka therefore my stint at Surrey will be very short.”

The 29-year-old Pakistani, who considers Wasim Akram (a legendary Pakistani left-armer) as his idol, shot to fame after a threatening spell against Australia in the quarter-final of the recently concluded World Cup Down Under. He literally spurted out venom with his bowling and had temporarily put the Aussies on the back-foot. Unfortunately, Pakistan lost the low scoring encounter and faced a knockout stage exit.

Riaz was seen exchanging words with Shane Watson during the match and when prodded on the incident, Riaz revealed, “When I was batting I had a minor exchange with Shane Watson and that's why I was very pumped up when I got the chance to bowl at him.”

This left-arm fast bowler touches 150kmph when he is at his best and had troubled the strong Indian batting contingent with a five for during the World Cup 2011 semi-finals at Mohali. Though his economy rate remains a concern for the Pakistan team as he leaks runs in the limited overs, his recent form will be more than just an answer to his critics.