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

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who has played 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 List of International Cricket Counci ...

since 2018. 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 language, Shina: ; ) is a city in Pakistani-administered Gilgit-Baltistan, Gilgit–Baltistan in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kas ...

, Pakistan, the son of Meher Nigah and Hidayat Shah. He is an

Isma'ili Ismailism () is a branch of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (Imamate in Nizari doctrine, imām) to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the ...

muslim. He played cricket at the under-19 level for

Gilgit-Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative units of Pakistan, administrative territory and consists of the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has b ...

and

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

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 city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

. 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 ICC World Cricket League, 2017–19 cycle of the World Cricket League ...

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

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. 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 Kw ...

. He made his

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

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 tournament in Oman. He was the joint-leading wicket-taker for Uganda in the tournament, with six dismissals in five matches. In May 2019, Shah was named in Uganda's squad for the Regional Finals of the 2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier tournament in Uganda. He made his

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

(T20I) debut against

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

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 cricket, 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 competit ...

debut, for Uganda against

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

, 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 tournament in Rwanda. In May 2022, he was named in Uganda's side for the 2022 Uganda Cricket World Cup Challenge League B tournament. In May 2024, he was named in Uganda’s squad for the

2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, co-hosted by Cricket West Indies and USA Cricket from 1 to 29 June 2024. It was the first major ICC tournament to include matches played in the United ...

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