Left-arm fast bowler Wahab Riaz is willing to play Test cricket again for Pakistan if required on the tour of England in August-September. 

The 34-year-old, who has played 27 Test matches for his country, was selected as part of an extended 29-man squad for the three-Test and three-T20I trip to the UK. The selectors and the management decided to choose an enlarged squad to have enough replacements in place for the series in wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

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"The Pakistan Cricket Board communicated with me to play Test cricket (in England), if required, and to play for Pakistan is always a priority so I said yes without even thinking," Wahab told reporters during a video teleconference organized by the PCB.

The circumstances have opened up the possibility for Wahab to make his Test match return, having taken an indefinite break from the format in September 2019 because of infrequent chances he had in the playing XI in the year leading upto the call.

"The priority was not different last year," Riaz explained. "I haven’t been playing Test cricket regularly in the last three, four years before this management arrived so the priority was to focus on white-ball cricket."

Contentiously, however, the man was also removed from the central contract list and dropped from the T20I side thereafter. 

"Of course, central contact gives security to a player," he said. "But playing for Pakistan is more important to me and I have got this opportunity once again by being selected in the team."

If Pakistan doesn't play another Test series within the pandemic and the selectors feel no need to announce a large squad, this could be a one-off for Wahab, given the team management had begun moving past him in the Test arena, especially with the likes of Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah showing a lot of promise against Australia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh before this outbreak. 

"I know playing in England is not easy," said the 34-year-old. "Getting an opportunity to play for Pakistan in red-ball cricket is also a challenge for me which I have to accept and I accepted it."

"As a senior player, I wanted to create an example … because it all has to be for Pakistan, not for yourself and the colour of the ball does not matter."

(Inputs from AP)