Riazat realises international dream with Uganda after struggles in Pakistan cricket backwaters

A fortuitous trip to Dubai in 2016 with a community cricket team helped Riazat Ali Shah, the Uganda all-rounder, get a taste of top-flight cricket, and also a shot at the upcoming T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA.

For in Gilgit-Baltistan, the northern part in Pakistan, from where he hails, playing even first-class cricket was a distant dream.

“There are no cricket facilities. There is some level of club cricket, but we have no first-class team. We have a district team which goes to Islamabad to play; the players then get to play first-class cricket only through Islamabad and it is tough to get selected in that first-class team,” says Riazat to www.theflyslip.online from Kampala, the capital city of Uganda.  

Riazat’s early initiation into cricket was through tape-ball cricket as is the case in all of Pakistan. There is only one ground for cricket ball (leather ball) and that is in Gilgit city, he says.

“I joined a club when I was 14-15; we used to play one or two matches with the cricket ball every month. I would also play local tournaments. But it was not like I had a club or an academy to join and hone myself. I started basics with tape ball and then graduated to playing with the season ball,” adds the 26-year-old who bowls and bats right-handed.

He got the first whiff of structured cricket in 2013 when he was picked for a Gilgit-Baltistan under-19 team that went to play a tournament in Islamabad.

There were four teams from Islamabad and one from Gilgit in that tournament.

“My performance was good in two-day matches, in both batting and bowling. I was picked for Islamabad under-19 in 2013 and we travelled vastly to play 15 games in the regional under-19 tournament. However, I managed to get only three matches. My first season wasn’t great,” he recalls the disappointment as a 16-year-old.

Unfazed by the lack of opportunities, Riazat went through the cycle again, playing for Gilgit-Baltistan under-19s and then qualifying through a tournament in Islamabad to play for Islamabad under-19s as he prepared to tuck himself into the Pakistan national-level structure. 

“I was more experienced the second time and my performance was good with both bat and ball. I played three one-dayers but couldn’t get multi-day matches,” he revisits.

Pacer Aamer Jamal, who recently made waves in Test matches for Pakistan in Australia, was his teammate.  

This was 2014 and Riazat was disappointed at not getting matches.

The thought that he hailed “from a place where there was no structured club cricket” and that “I was from outside and therefore, not getting opportunities” was slowly creeping in to dishearten him.

The only option before him then was to relocate to Islamabad.

“I thought that staying in the city and playing club cricket there will help me. I will get an idea and support from the club to play in the regionals.”

But at 18, he was declared overage, and couldn’t play under-19s anymore even though he continued playing club cricket in Islamabad.

As luck would have it, opportunity knocked at his door in 2016 in the form of a trip to Dubai thanks to Aga Khan Youth and Sports Board, which was taking a team to Jubilee Games, an Ismaeli Muslim community event. 

“There were many teams, including from USA, Canada, UK, and India. There was also a team from Uganda. I met Ghulam Hunzai, the then captain of a club called Aziz Damani, which is based in Kampala. He is also from Gilgit-Baltistan, who has been working in Uganda for the last 10-15 years. He said he was looking for overseas players who could come and play for the club for a season. He invited three of us.”

Moving immediately to Uganda was out of question since Riazat hadn’t yet completed high school and those at home, including father who was a supplier of pharmaceutical products, weren’t that keen on him taking up cricket since there was not much future for those from his region.

But towards the end of 2016 he shifted.

Unbeknown to him, his journey to Uganda national team started with Aziz Damani in early 2017. Former Kenya international Steve Tikolo took a liking to him.

“Most Uganda national team players used to play for the club, including the national team captain. Steve Tikolo was our coach at the club when I first met him. We played a match and won it. Tikolo asked if I was free for some matches against Uganda under-19 the subsequent week, and that they were making a senior team.

Riazat was free for three months and joined them, playing three trial games against Uganda under-19 in which he scored and took wickets. He trained with the Uganda seniors and gradually joined the national team.

“I thought it was a great opportunity to play international cricket; there was no way I was going to get to play first-class cricket in Pakistan. People are not even aware of the sport in Gilgit-Baltistan. Even the parents there aren’t aware of first-class cricket. When I was first selected for the Gilgit-Baltistan under-19 team, it was hard for me to convince my parents to let me go and play. It was even harder to convince them for the three-month Uganda trip, and now I was planning to stay on.

“They were taken aback to hear that I was going to play for the national team and planning to stay on for at least year more. It was hard to convince them.”

But they had been following his performances and let him chart his own path.

He began playing for the club, fully involved, and rapid strides earned him the Uganda Player of the Year Award in 2018 for domestic performances in what was just his second season. Soon he got a chance to play international cricket in 2019. He again won the Player of the Year Award in 2022.

“I took up a job but then gave it up, and focused fully on cricket.”

Holding a central contract and being taken care of by Aziz Damani Club helped him focus completely on cricket.

“I think what really helped was that the Ugandan people were welcoming, whether in the club or national team. Generally they are very welcoming. I was made to feel at home.”

The 26-year-old batting all-rounder, who bats at No. 4 and also finishes innings, and occasionally takes the new ball, feels the upcoming T20 World Cup is going to be a huge opportunity.

“I think it is going to be a great opportunity for us as a team and also individually. The whole world will be watching us play the T20 World Cup, and T20 franchise teams will keep an eye on us,” says the player who can hit big sixes and feels that he can be very useful for T20 franchise teams.

The 2022 Africa Cricket Association T20 Cup exposed to the world his worth after he emerged as the top run-getter with 222 runs. He was also the Player of the Final, scoring a blistering 98 not out off 53 balls against Tanzania.      

Cricket, Uganda, T20 World Cup, Pakistan cricket, Riazat Ali Shah, Islamabad