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T20 Blast: Essex sign Pakistan paceman Wahab Riaz

Wahab Riaz of Pakistan celebrates dismissing Joe Root
Image: Wahab Riaz will play seven T20 Blast games for Essex this summer

Essex have snapped up Pakistan international paceman Wahab Riaz for a seven-match stint in this season's NatWest T20 Blast.

With 106 Twenty20 wickets to his name and previous spells at Kent and Surrey under his belt, Wahab is expected to provide the Eagles with a huge boost in the tournament.

He will be replaced by New Zealand's Adam Milne after his spell with the Chelmsford outfit, who were beaten quarter-finalists in last season's T20 campaign.

Essex head coach Chris Silverwood said: "We are pleased to have Wahab joining the squad for the first half of the NatWest T20 Blast season. He will add a different dimension to our bowling attack, being a left-armer and bowling with real pace.

"We are looking at this competition with confidence. We need to improve our performance from the past few seasons, and drive our limited-overs cricket forward. Wahab's signing helps us with this."

We are pleased to have Wahab joining the squad for the first half of the NatWest T20 Blast season. He will add a different dimension to our bowling attack, being a left-armer and bowling with real pace.
Essex head coach Chris Silverwood

Wahab made his international debut for Pakistan in the shorter formats back in 2008, and first played a Test in 2010 on the tour of England.

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The fiery left-armer made the headlines in early 2015 with his duel against Australia's Shane Watson during the World Cup quarter-final, while he also featured against England in last year's Test series in the United Arab Emirates.

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