Pakistan Cricket Board Launches Inquiry Amid Tour Turmoil

Pakistan’s chaotic tour of England has taken another sharp turn, with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) launching a formal inquiry into “discipline and conduct” inside a dressing room already under heavy strain.

The announcement dropped on Monday morning, just days after a brutal reset: seven players sent home, seven replacements summoned, and head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed removed mid-series in favour of New Zealander Mike Hesson. All this with Pakistan already 2-0 down in the three-match Test series.

Crisis on and off the field

The turbulence has not been confined to selection and results. During the second Test at Lord’s, tensions spiked when the touring party threatened to abandon both the match and the tour. The trigger was a Sky interview with the sons of Imran Khan, the imprisoned former Pakistan prime minister and World Cup-winning captain, a figure whose shadow still looms over Pakistan cricket.

The situation cooled, the Test went on, but the sense of a camp on edge has lingered.

Now the PCB has moved to address the swirl of rumours around the squad. In its statement, the board confirmed an “internal disciplinary inquiry” had begun, saying issues of “discipline and conduct” were being reviewed under its standard procedures and regulations, with “all concerned individuals” to be given due consideration.

The board also went on the offensive over what it described as “speculative reports” from “hostile external sources”, insisting such claims should not be treated as credible.

Hesson firefighting on multiple fronts

Hesson, parachuted into the head coach role in the middle of a losing series, has already found himself forced to play more than just the tactician.

Last week he addressed reports that Salman Ali Agha, one of the seven players dropped and sent home, had refused to attend a meeting with King Charles at Clarence House. Hesson pushed back on that story, just as he did on suggestions that the call-ups of Mohammad Imran and Mohammad Imran Jr stemmed from PCB confusion over their near-identical names.

The PCB’s latest statement underlined that stance, stressing it would not comment further for now and urging “stakeholders and the public” to rely only on official board communication.

So Pakistan move deeper into a bruising tour with a series already lost, a squad reshaped on the fly, a new coach under scrutiny, and now an internal inquiry hanging over the camp.

The cricket continues. The noise around it is only getting louder.