In a move as ruthless as it was unexpected, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has dismantled the bulk of its touring Test setup in England, sending seven players and both senior coaches home less than two weeks before the final match of the series.
With the side already 2-0 down after bruising defeats at Leeds and Lord’s, the third Test at Birmingham, starting September 9, will now double as a reset — or a reckoning.
Seven players sent home, seven called up
On Monday, the PCB confirmed that Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman, Aamir Jamal, Muhammad Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad have all been released from the squad.
Seven new faces will take their places: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Fazal, Arafat Minhas, Saad Baig, Muhammad Randhawa, Razaullah and Mohammad Imran Jnr.
It is a dramatic mid-tour cull, rare even by Pakistan’s volatile standards. The message is unmistakable: the first two Tests were unacceptable, and the final match will not be business as usual.
Five of the incoming players have already worn Pakistan colours. Two have not played for the country at any level. For Muhammad Randhawa and Razaullah, Birmingham will be less a Test match and more a plunge into the deep end of elite cricket.
Coaching shake-up: Sarfaraz and Gul out, Hesson and Noffke in
The clear-out does not stop at the dressing room door.
Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul have also been relieved of their duties for the remainder of the tour. In their place, the PCB has turned to Mike Hesson as head coach and Ashley Noffke as bowling coach.
It is a striking mid-series pivot. Sarfaraz, a former captain, and Gul, a revered fast bowler of a previous generation, make way for an overseas coaching ticket tasked with salvaging pride from a series already lost.
The board has not dressed this up as a long-term vision piece. It feels like a jolt — an attempt to shock a flat, outplayed side into life before England complete a whitewash.
New blood, mixed experience
Among the seven replacements, Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal bring the most Test experience, though even that is modest. Saim has featured in eight Tests, Abdullah in two. Both now step into a high-pressure finale against an England side that has dominated the opening exchanges.
Arafat Minhas, a left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder, has already appeared in three ODIs and four T20Is for Pakistan. Birmingham offers him a first crack at Test cricket, and a chance to add variety to an attack that has lacked control and penetration.
The rest of the incoming group underline just how radical this overhaul is.
Saad Baig arrives with a serious domestic pedigree. The wicketkeeper-batter was named Player of the Tournament in the 2025–26 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, a season that pushed him firmly into national contention. Now he is fast-tracked into a squad under scrutiny, asked to translate first-class dominance into Test resilience.
Mohammad Imran Jnr brings left-arm pace, a commodity Pakistan have often relied on to unsettle batting line-ups overseas. Alongside him, right-arm pace-bowling all-rounders Muhammad Imran — also known as Imran Randhawa — and Razaullah add depth and options, even if their international inexperience makes their roles hard to predict.
For Randhawa and Razaullah, who have never represented Pakistan at any level, this is not a gentle introduction. It is a summons to step straight into the most demanding format, away from home, in a series already running against them.
A squad reshaped on the fly
The overhauled Test squad for the third match now reads:
Babar Azam (captain), Abdullah Fazal, Arafat Minhas, Azan Awais, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Imran, Mohammad Imran Jnr, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wicketkeeper), Razaullah, Saad Baig (wicketkeeper), Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shan Masood and Ubaid Shah.
The new arrivals will link up with the squad ahead of the Birmingham Test, walking into a camp that has been forced to confront its failures in brutal fashion.
Two heavy defeats have already framed this tour as a low point. Now, with coaches changed and half a team turned over, the final Test becomes something else entirely: a live experiment, a selection gamble, and perhaps the first glimpse of what Pakistan’s next red-ball era might look like.
Whether this sweeping reset sparks a response or deepens the turmoil will be decided in three days at Birmingham.
