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Rizwan, Imam among 7 players sent back home by PCB ahead of 3rd England Test

By Sohail Khan 31 August 2026, 10:54 pm

In what is being seen a fallout of Pakistan’s embarrassing defeat against England in the second Test at Lord’s on Sunday, the country’s cricketing board announced that they have decided to call back 7 players from the ongoing tour and replaced them with a fresh set of cricketers.

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, the PCB announced. The Board also released head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul, replacing them with Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke, respectively.

The seven replacements are Saim Ayub, Abdullah Fazal, Arafat Minhas, Saad Baig, Muhammad Randhawa, Razaullah and Muhammad Imran Jnr. Of the seven, five have played international cricket, while two – Muhammad Randhawa and Razaullah – are yet to represent Pakistan at any level. Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal have played eight and two Tests respectively, while left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Arafat Minhas has represented Pakistan in three ODIs and four T20Is.

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The other four players include left-arm fast bowler Mohammad Imran Jnr, wicketkeeper-batter Saad Baig, who was the Player of the Tournament in the 2025-26 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, and right-arm pace-bowling all-rounders Mohammad Imran, also known as Imran Randhawa, and Razaullah. The players will join the Pakistan squad ahead of the third Test in Birmingham.

The changes were made after Pakistan lost the first two Tests of the tour in Headingly and Lord’s respectively. Sunday’s loss at Lord’s was Pakistan’s tenth defeat in 11 away Tests in this time and Pakistan now stands at the bottom spot in the ICC World Test Championship standings with two wins and six losses in this WTC cycle and 16.67 points percentage. The Lord’s defeat was also Pakistan’s 15th loss in their last 20 Tests.

Updated Pakistan Test squad for Birmingham Test: 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.

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