He also served as an advisor to the chief minister of Punjab for sports and youth affairs, in the caretaker government headed by Mohsin Raza Naqvi.

[4][5] In September 2019, Riaz announced that he would be taking a break from red-ball cricket to focus on the shorter formats of the game.

He took the wickets of Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla before suffering a side strain later that day and was later ruled out from the test series.

He performed notably, taking 5 wickets in the Pakistan vs India semi-final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, where he appeared as a replacement for Shoaib Akhtar.

[14] Shortly after the World Cup, Pakistan toured the West Indies for two Tests, five ODIs, and a T20I; Riaz was included in the squad.

[17] 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.

[18] 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.

[19][20] After the tour of Ireland, Riaz entered talks with Kent, eventually signing to play for them in county cricket.

He took Chris Cooke's wicket, and guided his team to victory with a final batting score of 32 not out, hitting the winning runs after being sent in up the order.

[22] 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.

[32] Originally rested from the Test team to give younger players a chance,[29] Riaz's hiatus from the squad extended to six months.

In the quarterfinal match against Australia, he took Australian skipper Michael Clarke's wicket and, then, showed some aggressive interaction by sarcastic clapping and a flying kiss to Shane Watson.

[58][59] He was a regular starter throughout the tournament and took 11 wickets in 8 games with an economy of 6 runs per over and a bowling strike rate of 36.3 balls.

[60] During the tournament, he became Pakistan's 2nd highest wicket-taker in World Cup history going past Imran Khan's tally of 34 wickets.

During a group stage match in 2016 against Quetta Gladiators, Riaz had an exchange of words and a physical tussle with batsman Ahmed Shehzad.

[73] In January 2023, while playing for the Khulna Tigers in the 2022–23 Bangladesh Premier League, he became the first Pakistani bowler to take 400 T20 wickets.

[74] In January 2023, Riaz was appointed as sports minister in Mohsin Raza Naqvi's caretaker Punjab government but could not take his oath due to his busy schedule.