Pakistan cricket has lived through chaos before, but this feels different. With the team 2-0 down in England and reeling from a 194-run hammering at Lord’s, the Pakistan Cricket Board has torn up its own script on the eve of the final Test at Edgbaston. The result is a dressing room stripped of continuity, a coaching setup ripped apart, and a former international shaking his head from afar.
“Pakistan cricket is in shambles at the moment,” he told IANS. “Pakistan cricket is currently at an all-time low.”
A team in crisis, a board in panic
The response to the Lord’s defeat was not subtle. It was brutal.
Seven players were sent home. Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul were removed mid-series. White-ball coaches Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke were suddenly pushed into red-ball roles. Misbah-ul-Haq resigned from the selection panel and walked away from his batting consultant position at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.
One heavy loss, and the PCB detonated the entire structure around a team already struggling across formats.
For Atiq, the timing and logic of the decisions cut deeper than the results.
He questioned why Khurram Shehzad was dropped and why spinner Ali Usman, the leading wicket-taker in the Leeds Test, was sent home. In their place, T20 specialists were drafted into a Test squad fighting for survival.
“All of a sudden, now T20 bowlers are brought into the Test squad. Why?” he asked, suggesting personal preferences were driving selection. “I don't understand what's going on.”
The picture he painted was not of a reset, but of a board lurching from one impulse to another.
Sarfaraz and Gul: from heroes to scapegoats
If the selection churn was confusing, the treatment of Sarfaraz Ahmed and Umar Gul left Atiq angry.
“There is no justification for it,” he said. “The same people who selected them are the ones turning around and deselecting them. That means either you made a mistake in the first place, or you are making a mistake right now.”
Sarfaraz and Gul are not fringe figures. They are World Cup winners, men woven into Pakistan’s modern cricket story. Sarfaraz lifted the U19 World Cup and later the Champions Trophy as national captain. Gul terrorised batters in global tournaments.
Atiq did not agree with Sarfaraz’s appointment as Test head coach to begin with, pointing to his lack of coaching experience and qualifications. But once the PCB handed him the job, he argued, they owed him backing, not a mid-series dismissal.
“Give him a fair chance before you disrespect him and send him home in the middle of a Test series,” he said. “It is unacceptable. I feel very sorry for Sarfaraz and Umar Gul because I don't think they did anything wrong. If the players on the field can't perform, or if you haven't selected a team capable of performing, what is a coach supposed to do?”
Now the responsibility shifts to Hesson and Noffke, parachuted into a series already lost, with a fractured squad and a restless public watching.
“Let's see what Mike Hesson does now,” Atiq remarked, the challenge hanging in the air.
Imam under fire: “Test cricket is a test of your character”
The turmoil has not been confined to boardrooms and selection meetings. On the field, or in this case off it, Imam-ul-Haq has found himself at the centre of a storm.
The opener suffered a Grade 1 tear in his left calf during the Lord’s Test and did not bat in either innings. He did, however, come out for some practice, then later appeared in front of the media in shorts, his leg bandaged, visibly limping.
That did not sit well with Atiq.
He stopped short of disputing the medical diagnosis but spoke instead about mentality and expectation.
“In our culture, we are raised to be tough,” he said. “If you have a Grade 1, 2, or even Grade 3 muscle strain, you still step out there and bat for your team. Even if you get out on the first ball, it doesn't matter – the public sees that you showed heart, and they respect you for it.”
He pointed to Glenn Maxwell’s double hundred with severe hamstring cramps, Chris Woakes batting with a fractured hand, and Saleem Malik facing West Indies fast bowlers with a broken arm as examples of the standard Pakistan fans expect from their heroes.
For Atiq, Imam’s absence from the crease, followed by his public appearance, created the wrong image.
“Instead, he made himself look bad by not batting in either innings, and then walking out in front of the media in shorts with bandages on his leg and heavily limping – even if you can't run, you can still hit a ball,” he said. “Imam-ul-Haq should have walked out to bat. Even if he got out immediately, nobody would have questioned his commitment because he was genuinely injured.”
The verdict was unforgiving.
“It leaves a bad impression, and I have no sympathy for that behaviour. If you don't have the heart or bravery for international cricket, you shouldn't be playing Test matches. Test cricket isn't just a test of your skills – it's a test of your character.”
Players in the storm, and a familiar message
Amid all the criticism, Atiq did not turn his back on the players. He knows the environment they come from. He came through it himself.
“To be honest, in Pakistan, players are used to this environment from domestic, U16, and U19 cricket,” he said. “We are raised in a tough system where you rarely get total freedom or backing, and you always feel like you are playing under threat just to survive.”
His advice to the squad heading to Edgbaston was simple, almost stripped back in contrast to the chaos around them.
“Enjoy your cricket, believe in your skill set, do what you can with bat and ball, and leave the rest to God.”
They will need that clarity. The third Test is, on paper, a dead rubber. For careers and reputations, it is anything but.
Talent without a structure
Atiq now scouts for England women, Lions and Young Lions and coaches the Germany men’s team. From that vantage point, he sees the same thing many have said for years about Pakistan: the raw material is not the issue.
“The talent in Pakistan is undeniably there,” he insisted.
His frustration lies higher up, in Lahore’s corridors of power.
He called for major change at PCB level, arguing that the board needs leadership with genuine expertise and the authority to drive structural reform. Surround the team with “quality, professional individuals,” he said, and standards will rise with them.
“Hopefully, the PCB chairman changes his approach and brings in someone with genuine expertise and leadership experience to drive real structural change,” he added. Without that, he believes, Pakistan’s players will continue to bump against the same ceiling, their ability dulled by instability and short-term thinking.
Edgbaston will offer only a snapshot of where this team stands. The real question hangs over what comes after: will Pakistan finally build a system worthy of its talent, or keep tearing it down every time the scoreboard turns ugly?
