Usama Mir Criticizes PCB After Test Series Loss
Pakistan’s dismal tour of England has claimed its first major casualties — and sparked a pointed public rebuke from within its own ranks.
Leg-spinner Usama Mir, currently out of the Test side, took to X with a thinly veiled attack on the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and team management after drastic changes followed back-to-back defeats at Headingley and Lord’s that surrendered the three-match series with a game to spare.
“Amazing how someone managed to destroy the entire system, and nobody even noticed,” Mir wrote, without naming names but leaving little doubt about the target of his frustration.
He followed it with a sharper line in Urdu: “Ab pachhtaye kya, jab chidiya chug gayin khet (It is no use crying over spilt milk).”
In a week when Pakistan’s Test structure is under the microscope again, the timing and tone of Mir’s posts cut through the usual diplomatic silence that surrounds the national setup. The message was clear: the rot, in his view, set in long before England exposed it.
PCB swings the axe
Stung by two heavy defeats and a run of away failures, the PCB has ripped up its plans on the eve of the third Test in Birmingham, starting September 9.
Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul have been sent home. Their places for the final Test go to white-ball head coach Mike Hesson and bowling coach Ashley Noffke, who now step into a rescue job with a series already lost and a dressing room under strain.
The overhaul has not stopped at the support staff.
- Seven players have been recalled from the tour.
- Wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, injured opener Imam-ul-Haq, first Test captain Salman Ali Agha, spinner Ali Usman and pacer Khurram Shahzad — several of whom featured at Lord’s — have all been told to return home.
- All-rounder Aamir Jamal and batter Awais Zafar are also back without having played a single match in England, underlining just how dramatically the selection plans have shifted in a matter of days.
The churn speaks to panic as much as planning. Pakistan have not only lost a series; they have lost any semblance of continuity.
Sarfaraz’s brief reign ends in ruins
For Sarfaraz Ahmed, the decision draws a brutal line under a turbulent three-month stint as head coach.
His tenure away from home has been grim: Pakistan have lost five of six away Tests under his watch — two in Bangladesh, one in the West Indies and now two in England. Whatever the mitigating factors, the numbers are unforgiving.
The captaincy picture has offered no comfort. Babar Azam’s second spell as Test captain, which began after Shan Masood was removed in May, has yet to spark the revival many expected. Pakistan drew 1-1 in the West Indies under Babar, but in England they have been outplayed twice, and early.
Strip away the individual storylines and the broader pattern is stark: Pakistan have lost 10 of their last 11 away Tests. That is no blip. It is a crisis of identity in the longest format.
In that context, Mir’s barbed observation about a “destroyed” system lands with added weight. The leg-spinner may not be in the XI, but his words echo a feeling that has lingered around Pakistan cricket for years — that the problems run deeper than a misfiring batting order or a wayward spell with the new ball.
The third Test in Birmingham will not save this series. The question now is whether it can offer even a glimpse of a direction, or whether this latest reset is just another turn in a cycle Pakistan seem unable to break.
