Wahab was chosen in the squad for the tri-series in Bangladesh which also included India and in his first match against Bangladesh; he finished with 3 wickets for 22 runs in 7 overs and in the next match although he took two Indian wickets he conceded 85 runs.

Wahab made his Test debut against England in the third test of the 2010 series. England batted first and Wahab took 5/63 in the first innings. In Pakistan's first innings he came into bat at number 3 and made 27 runs.

He next played for Pakistan in the Test series against South Africa in October 2010 he participated in 4 ODIs. He was selected to play in the first Test later in that series he took two wickets those of Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla however towards the end of the day he picked up a side strain. He did not bowl the following day. A scan showed that Riaz had picked up an injury which takes 4–5 weeks to recover from and thus he missed the rest of the Test series.

In March 2011 he played for Pakistani team in at least four matches with an above average performance. However he really came in the limelight at the Pakistan Vs India semi-final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, when he replaced Shoaib Akhtar and took 5 wickets.

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, which Pakistan lost, 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 twenty20 debut for Kent against Glamorgan on 11 June. He took a single wicket, that of Chris Cooke, and guided his team to victory with 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