Riazat Ali Shah (born 20 February 1998) is a Pakistani-born Ugandan

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who plays for the

Uganda national cricket team The Uganda national cricket team, nicknamed the Cricket Cranes, is the men's team that represents Uganda in international cricket. The team is organised by the Uganda Cricket Association, which has been an ICC members, associate member of the ...

. He is an all-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm medium pace.

Early life

Shah was born on 20 February 1998 in

Gilgit Gilgit (; Shina: ; ur, ) is the capital city of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan. The city is located in a broad valley near the confluence of the Gilgit River and the Hunza River. It is a major tourist destination in Pakistan, serving as a h ...

, Pakistan, the son of Meger Nigar and Hiyadat Shah. He is an

Isma'ili Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-Sa ...

. He played cricket at under-19 level for

Gilgit-Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory, and constituting the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region which has been the subject of a dispute bet ...

and

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

International career

Shah moved to Uganda at the age of 16, where he began playing for Aziz Damani Sports Club in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

. In April 2018, he was named in Uganda's squad for the

2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Four The 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Four was an international cricket tournament that took place during April and May 2018 in Malaysia. It formed part of the 2017–19 cycle of the World Cricket League (WCL) which determined the qualifi ...

tournament in Malaysia. He played in Uganda's opening match of the tournament, against

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. In July 2018, he was part of Uganda's squad in the Eastern sub region group for the 2018–19 ICC World Twenty20 Africa Qualifier tournament. He was named the player of the tournament for the Eastern group. In September 2018, he was named in Uganda's squad for the

2018 Africa T20 Cup The 2018 Africa T20 Cup was the fourth and final edition of the Africa T20 Cup, a Twenty20 cricket tournament. It was held in South Africa in September 2018, as a curtain-raiser to the 2018–19 South African domestic season. Provincial side Kwa ...

. He made his

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

debut for Uganda in the 2018 Africa T20 Cup on 14 September 2018. The following month, he was named in Uganda's squad for the

2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Three The 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Three was an international cricket tournament that took place in Oman between 9 and 19 November 2018. It formed part of the 2017–19 cycle of the World Cricket League (WCL) which determines the qualif ...

tournament in Oman. He was the joint-leading wicket-taker for Uganda in the tournament, with six dismissals in five matches. In May 2019, he was named in Uganda's squad for the

Regional Finals In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

of the

2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier The 2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier was the tournament played as part of qualification process for the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup. Twelve regional qualifiers were held by the International Cricket Council (ICC), with 62 teamsZambia were ...

tournament in Uganda. He made his

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

(T20I) debut for Uganda against

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

on 20 May 2019. He finished as the leading run-scorer in the Regional Finals, with 140 runs in four matches. In July 2019, he was one of twenty-five players named in the Ugandan training squad, ahead of the Cricket World Cup Challenge League fixtures in Oman. In November 2019, he was named in Uganda's squad for the Cricket World Cup Challenge League B tournament in Oman. He made his

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

debut, for Uganda against

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

, on 2 December 2019. In November 2021, he was named in Uganda's squad for the Regional Final of the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier was a cricket tournament that was played as part of qualification process for the 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, during October and November 2021. In April 2018, the International Cricket Council ( ...

tournament in Rwanda. In May 2022, he was named in Uganda's side for the

2022 Uganda Cricket World Cup Challenge League B The 2022 Uganda Cricket World Cup Challenge League B was the second round of matches in Group B of the 2019–2022 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League, a cricket tournament which formed part of the qualification pathway to the 2023 Cricket ...

tournament.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Riazat Ali 1998 births Living people Ugandan cricketers Uganda Twenty20 International cricketers Place of birth missing (living people) Pakistani emigrants to Uganda Naturalized citizens of Uganda People from Gilgit Pakistani Ismailis Ugandan Ismailis