At Aitchison College, Riaz used to play as a wicket-keeper and opening batsman. In 2002, Riaz made his
first-class debut at the age of 16 for
Lahore Whites. Riaz next played for
Pakistan in the Test series against
South Africa in October 2010 after he participated in 4 ODIs. He was selected to play in the first Test later in that series. He took the wickets of
Graeme Smith and
Hashim Amla before suffering a side strain later that day and was later ruled out from the test series. In March 2011, Riaz appeared for Pakistan for four matches. He performed notably, taking 5 wickets in the
Pakistan vs India semi-final of the
2011 Cricket World Cup, where he appeared as a replacement for
Shoaib Akhtar. Shortly after the World Cup, Pakistan
toured the West Indies for two Tests, five ODIs, and a T20I; Riaz was included in the squad. He took two wickets in the T20I, in a losing effort, and played in four out of the five ODIs, taking seven wickets at an average of 25.28 and finishing as Pakistan's leading wicket-taker in the series. In a report to the
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on the team's performance in the West Indies, coach
Waqar Younis commented that Riaz had an "average" tour. In May Pakistan
toured Ireland for a two-match ODI series, and although Riaz was included in the squad he did not play a match. After the tour of Ireland, Riaz entered talks with
Kent, eventually signing to play for them in county cricket. The club had suffered injuries to their fast bowlers and Riaz was drafted in to bolster their line up. He made his T20 debut for Kent against
Glamorgan on 11 June. He took
Chris Cooke's wicket, and guided his team to victory with a final batting score of 32
not out, hitting the winning runs after being sent in up the order. On his home debut Riaz took a hat-trick – dismissing
Chris Taylor,
Ed Young, and
Richard Coughtrie – and recording figures of 5 wickets for 17 runs (5/17) against
Gloucestershire to help his team to an eight-wicket victory. It was the second time a player had taken a T20 hat-trick for Kent, and was the first time Riaz took five wickets in the format, beating previous best bowling figures of 3/14. During his spell with Kent Riaz took 13 first-class wickets at an average of 33.53, 9 in list A cricket at 13.33, and 20 wickets in t20 matches at an average of 19.85. In August, Riaz was awarded a category B central contract with the PCB; six players were in category A, eight (including Riaz) in B, and nine in C. When Pakistan toured Zimbabwe in September, Riaz was rested with the selectors taking the opportunity to blood a number of new and inexperienced players. Though recalled to the Test squad for the three-match series against Sri Lanka, he did not play in the series and was dropped from the ODI squad to face the same opponents. Originally rested from the Test team to give younger players a chance, On 30 August 2016, he conceded 110 runs in his stipulated 10 overs, which is the second worst bowling figure ever in ODI cricket. In April 2018, he was named in
Punjab's squad for the
2018 Pakistan Cup. In March 2019, he was named in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's squad for the
2019 Pakistan Cup. He was the joint-leading wicket-taker in the tournament, with ten dismissals in five matches. In June 2020, he was named in a 29-man squad for Pakistan's
tour to England during the
COVID-19 pandemic. However, on 23 June 2020, Riaz was one of seven players from Pakistan's squad to test positive for COVID-19. In July, he was shortlisted in Pakistan's 20-man squad for the Test matches against England. He retired from international cricket in August 2023.
2015 Cricket World Cup In January 2015, he was named in
Pakistan's squad for the
2015 Cricket World Cup, after the
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) named their final fifteen-man squad for the tournament. In Pakistan's opening matches, he took 1 wicket each against
India &
West Indies. He followed by a man of the match performance against
Zimbabwe in which he scored 54 not out off 46 balls and took 4 wickets. Against
UAE, took two wickets. He followed it up by taking three wickets versus
South Africa. He took three wickets against
Ireland in Pakistan's last group game. In the quarterfinal match against
Australia, he took Australian skipper
Michael Clarke's wicket and, then, showed some aggressive interaction by sarcastic clapping and a flying kiss to
Shane Watson.
ICC fined Riaz for the behavior. Riaz's spell against Australia won him plaudits from numerous cricketers past and present, with
Michael Clarke referring to Riaz's performance 'as good as I've faced in ODI cricket for a long time' and
Kevin Pietersen describing the spell as the "Best spell of bowling by a foreigner on Aussie soil for years". After the match Riaz became a trend on Twitter.
Brian Lara tweeted "I want to meet with this Riaz guy," adding that he would pay the fine imposed on Riaz by the ICC for his verbal altercation with Watson.
Brian Lara was later invited by Riaz to Pakistan via
Twitter.
2019 Cricket World Cup In May 2019, he was named in
Pakistan's squad for the
2019 Cricket World Cup, after the
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) named their final fifteen-man squad for the tournament. He was a regular starter throughout the tournament and took 11 wickets in 8 games with an economy of 6 runs per over and a bowling strike rate of 36.3 balls. During the tournament, he became Pakistan's 2nd highest wicket-taker in
World Cup history going past
Imran Khan's tally of 34 wickets.
T20 franchise career Riaz was allocated as a Platinum category player in the
2016 Pakistan Super League players draft. He was bought by
Peshawar Zalmi for $140,000 for the 2016 competition. During a group stage match in 2016 against
Quetta Gladiators, Riaz had an exchange of words and a physical tussle with batsman
Ahmed Shehzad. The
Pakistan Cricket Board imposed a fine on both the players and issued an official warning to them. He was retained by the Peshawar Zalmi for the
second PSL season in 2017. Peshawar won the 2017 competition and, as of the end of the 2017 PSL, Riaz is the leading wicket-taker with 30 wickets in 19 matches. He has played for Zalmi in every edition so far. On 18 February 2022 Wahab took his 100th wicket in the PSL for Peshawar, becoming the first player overall to reach the milestone. In September 2018, he was named in Kandahar's squad in the
first edition of the
Afghanistan Premier League tournament. In June 2019, he was selected to play for the Brampton Wolves franchise team in the
2019 Global T20 Canada tournament. In September 2019, he was named in the squad for the
Cape Town Blitz team for the
2019 Mzansi Super League tournament. In November 2019, he was selected to play for the
Dhaka Platoon in the
2019–20 Bangladesh Premier League. In October 2020, he was drafted by the Kandy Tuskers for the
inaugural edition of the
Lanka Premier League. In May 2021, he was named in the
St Lucia Zouks squad for the
2021 Caribbean Premier League. In November 2021, he was selected to play for the
Jaffna Kings following the players' draft for the
2021 Lanka Premier League. In April 2022, he was bought by the
Northern Superchargers for the
2022 season of
The Hundred in England. In January 2023, while playing for the
Khulna Tigers in the
2022–23 Bangladesh Premier League, he became the first Pakistani bowler to take 400 T20 wickets. == Post-retirement ==