Pakistan men’s cricket team fast bowler Wahab Riaz is adapting to life playing three different roles. Firstly, he has been playing professional cricket since 2001 when he was selected by Lahore to represent them in domestic tournaments.
Fast-forward 22 years, he still plays professional cricket and is listed in the ‘Diamond’ category of Pakistan Super League (PSL) players. He has been playing for Peshawar Zalmi in PSL since 2016, and it is expected that he’ll represent the team in the upcoming tournament.
His second career started earlier on this year when he was appointed ‘Caretaker Minister for Sports’ in Punjab province. Under the leadership of Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi, he has been performing the duty and became famous when one of his videos was posted on different social media platforms when he was splashing water on locals while driving in the rain.
A few hours ago, Riaz has been given a third role in his professional life. He has been appointed Chief Selector of Pakistan men’s cricket team. Riaz will make the calls regarding who travels down under and plays the 3-match test series against Australia. He will further list down the squad for the 5-match T20I series versus New Zealand in Kiwi-land.
The big question mark in all of this situation is, isn’t this ‘conflict of interest’ that Wahab Riaz is the chief selector of the players he still plays with, while still holding an influential position in the current caretaker Government setup?
While playing the previous PSL season, he performed duties under the captaincy of Babar Azam, who has recently stepped down from national side captaincy.
It is imperative that Wahab Riaz tenders in his resignation from the other two positions while he is serving as the Chief Selector, because if this isn’t a conflict of interest, then we don’t know what is.