• Wahab Riaz has been appointed interim Punjab’s sports minister.
• Wahab retired from red-ball cricket in 2019.
• Governor Baligh Ur Rehman took oath to the newly selected cabinet.

It was revealed on Thursday that Pakistan’s top bowler Wahab Riaz had been appointed interim Punjab’s sports minister.

At a ceremony conducted at the Governor’s House in Lahore, Governor Baligh Ur Rehman administered the oath to the newly selected cabinet members.

Of the 11 members of the cabinet, eight took the oath: Bilal Afzal, SM Tanveer, Dr. Javed Akram, Ibrahim Murad, Dr. Jamal Nasir, Mansoor Qadir, Syed Azfar Ali Nasir, and Amir Mir. Wahab Riaz, Tamkinat Karim, and Naseem Sadiq were unable to attend the ceremony.

According to Wahab, who is currently representing Khulna Tigers in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) 2023, the largest province’s sports minister will be appointed in due course.

For Pakistan, the left-arm bowler has 237 wickets in 156 matches in all types of international competition. It is important to note that the 37-year-old bowler competed for his country in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy.

The renowned pacer retired from red-ball cricket in 2019.

Riaz had said: “After reviewing my past couple of years’ performances in red-ball cricket and the upcoming limited-overs cricket, I have decided to take time off from first-class cricket.

“During this period, I will like to focus on 50-over and 20-over cricket, and continue to access my fitness for the longer version of the game. At a stage I feel I cannot only return but also perform with the red-ball, I would make myself available,” he had added.

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