The magnitude of the mid-tour deletions, according to former Pakistani batter Mohammad Yousuf, went much beyond any simple performance-based justification. He pointed out that the replacements coming to England are not well-known Pakistani cricket greats, which he said revealed the true reason for the alterations.
In the midst of the England tour, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) changed its Test team and coaching staff. Before the third and final Test at Edgbaston, which begins on September 9, seven players, head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed, and bowling coach Umar Gul will return home. Following consecutive crushing losses, Pakistan lost the first Test by an innings and 103 runs and the second by 194 runs, giving England an unbeatable 2-0 lead.
Salman Agha, Ali Usman, Aamer Jamal, Awais Zafar, Khurram Shahzad, Imam-ul-Haq, and Mohammad Rizwan were all let go from the touring group. Five uncapped players—Arafat Minhas, Mohammad Imran Jr., Saad Baig, Mohammad Imran Randhawa, and Razaullah—as well as Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal, who have only played in ten Test matches between them, were brought in by Pakistan. To cover the coaching vacancy, bowling coach Ashley Noffke and white-ball head coach Mike Hesson were brought into the Test squad.
The PCB sent a show-cause notice to the four-member national selection committee on the same day the board announced the makeover, requesting a written explanation of the rationale for Rizwan and Imam’s picks as well as the procedure used to make those choices within a day.
For what reason did Mohammad Yousuf object to the PCB’s ruling?
How is Misbah-ul-Haq’s resignation from the selection committee progressing?
In reaction to the PCB’s mid-tour choices, former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq resigned from the national selection committee. At the same time, he decided to quit his job at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore as a batting consultant. According to the most recent information available, neither resignation had been accepted by the PCB.
Along with Aaqib Javed, Sarfaraz Ahmed, and Asad Shafiq, Misbah joined the four-person selection panel in March of this year. A batting consulting agreement demanding 180 days of service annually was another aspect of his PCB commitment. With Shaheen Shah Afridi as captain, he led the Pakistan Gold squad to victory in the 50-over National Champions Cup in Multan the month prior to the England tour.
The larger background for the situation is provided by Pakistan’s Test record. The Lord is now at the bottom of the ICC World Test Championship 2025–27 standings after suffering their 15th loss in the previous 20 Tests. From the beginning of 2024 until the West Indies tour, Rizwan had been Pakistan’s leading run scorer and batting average holder in Tests, but Imam had only played two Tests during that period while making impressive results in domestic cricket.
