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Pakistan Makes Major Changes After England Defeat

Cricketer celebrating a wicket on field
Cricket

Pakistan’s tour of England has lurched from disappointment into full-blown reset.

In the wake of a bruising series defeat, seven players and two members of the coaching staff have been sent home ahead of the final Test at Edgbaston, a clear signal that the management has run out of patience with both performance and personnel.

Mohammad Rizwan headlines the departures, joined by Imam-ul-Haq – injured during the second-Test defeat at Lord’s – Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman, Aamir Jamal, Muhammad Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad. All seven have been released from the touring party before the third Test, with Pakistan already 2-0 down.

The shake-up has not stopped at the dressing room door. Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul have also been stood down, with Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke drafted into the backroom staff as Pakistan scramble for answers and authority before the series finale.

Fresh faces for a damaged side

Seven replacements have been called up, five of them uncapped at Test level, as Pakistan pivot sharply towards youth and experimentation.

Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal, the only incoming batters with Test experience, have just eight and two caps respectively. Around them is a cluster of new names, raw but promising, tasked with lifting a side that has been outplayed in every department.

Arafat Minhas, the left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder with white-ball experience for Pakistan, steps into the Test squad as a key option in English conditions that may yet tire and turn by the back end of the match.

He is joined by left-arm fast bowler Mohammad Imran Jnr, wicketkeeper-batter Saad Baig, and pace-bowling all-rounders Mohammad Imran (also known as Imran Randhawa) and Razaullah. It is a group that speaks of long-term planning, but their first assignment is brutally short-term: avoid a whitewash.

England dominant, Pakistan reeling

The urgency behind the changes is easy to trace.

Pakistan were hammered by an innings and 103 runs in the series opener at Headingley, then brushed aside by 194 runs at Lord’s. England have dictated tempo and conditions, their bowlers ruthless, their batters untroubled. Pakistan, by contrast, have looked tentative, brittle and short of ideas.

Those margins of defeat leave Babar Azam’s side heading to Edgbaston not just beaten, but bruised. The final Test, starting Wednesday, September 9, will be live on Sky Sports Cricket, with Pakistan trying to salvage pride and avoid a 3-0 scoreline that would linger long after the team boards the flight home.

New-look squad for Edgbaston

The revamped Pakistan Test squad for Edgbaston reads like the start of a new chapter as much as the end of this tour:

  • Babar Azam (captain)
  • Abdullah Fazal
  • Abdullah Shafique
  • Arafat Minhas
  • Azan Awais
  • Mohammad Abbas
  • Mohammad Ali
  • Muhammad Imran
  • Mohammad Imran Jnr
  • Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wicket-keeper)
  • Razaullah
  • Saad Baig (wicket-keeper)
  • Saim Ayub
  • Sajid Khan
  • Saud Shakeel
  • Shan Masood
  • Ubaid Shah

There is experience in Babar, Shan Masood, Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Abbas. There is promise in Ayub, Fazal and Ubaid Shah. There is also risk everywhere you look.

Edgbaston will show whether this is merely a panicked reshuffle after a chastening tour, or the first hard step in reshaping Pakistan’s Test future.

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