Pakistan have sent seven players and two coaches home mid-series, ahead of the third and final Test against England at Edgbaston. It came after back-to-back defeats, an innings-and-103-run loss at Headingley and a 194-run surrender at Lord’s, handing England an unbeatable 2-0 lead.

Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman, Aamer Jamal, Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad have all been released, alongside head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul. New Zealander Mike Hesson, already Pakistan’s white-ball head coach, takes over the Test side for the rest of the tour, with Ashley Noffke as his bowling coach. Five uncapped players have been added, along with Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal, whose combined Test experience runs to 10 matches.

Misbah-ul-Haq has since resigned from Pakistan’s selection committee, a day after the axing spree, and stepped down as batting consultant at the National Cricket Academy too. Cricinfo reports the PCB served the four-member panel a formal notice the same day, seeking a written explanation within 24 hours for the selections of Rizwan and Imam on the West Indies and England tours.

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20 games; 15 losses

Pakistan arrived in England already bottom of the WTC table. The Lord’s defeat was their 15th loss in 20 Tests, and their tenth away defeat in 11 games. They are yet to reach 200 in any innings this series; their closest attempt was Saud Shakeel’s 97 at Lord’s.

Usman’s axing has drawn particular scrutiny. He took a five-wicket haul at Headingley, the first visiting spinner to do so there since 1972, and his series average of 25.17 is still the second-lowest of any touring specialist spinner in England since Muttiah Muralitharan’s in 2006. Rizwan has faced criticism over a string of reckless dismissals through the tour. Imam suffered a low-grade calf tear at Lord’s, and was criticised both for not batting in either innings and for a painful, heavily strapped session of throwdowns on the outfield before Day 4.

Pakistan cricket team in action. (FILE photo)

Former captain Shahid Afridi called it “the most shocking decision ever by a selection committee which includes so many experienced selectors,” questioning both the timing and the logic of picking T20 specialists for an English Test. “Even the replacements make no sense,” he wrote. “What is this thinking and approach?”

On the Pakistan YouTube show Game Plan, former batter Basit Ali called the episode symptomatic of a dressing room now run by its own leaks. “Ye social media ki team hai, yaar” (This is a social media team, mate), he said. He pointed to the panel’s own experience: “Isse zyada matches khelne wali selection committee koi bhi nahi aayi” (No selection committee with more combined match experience than this one has ever existed), before warning that if six players go and Pakistan still lose, critics would call it the worst selection committee in Pakistan’s history. On Abdullah Fazal, ruled unfit and sent home before the tour, Basit asked: “Anfit hoke jo aaya hai, kya wo fit ho gaya? Kahan hai uski fitness report?” (He came back after being ruled unfit, so has he become fit now? Where’s his fitness report?)

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Kamran Akmal picked up from there, arguing the board should either overhaul the entire committee or make no changes at all.

Basit named what he called Pakistan’s single biggest decision, predating this tour entirely. “Sabse bada faisla Pakistan ki cricket ki tabahi ka bataun aaj? Jab Shaheen Shah Afridi aur Babar Azam mein daraar padi captaincy ki wajah se. Us din se Pakistan ki team kharab ho gayi” (Let me tell you the single biggest decision behind the ruin of Pakistan cricket: when the rift developed between Shaheen Shah Afridi and Babar Azam over the captaincy. Pakistan’s team fell apart from that day), he said. Pakistan currently field three different captains: Babar in Tests, Shaheen in ODIs, Agha in T20Is.

Kamran was the one to say plainly what the selectors hadn’t. “Bas itna keh de ki yeh hamari recommendation nahi hai. Hum is pe khush nahi hain” (Just say plainly that this isn’t our recommendation, and that we’re not happy about it)”, he said. He turned to the captaincy, arguing Pakistan has never lacked options. “Option bahut hai, kisi ko bhi bana sakte hain, ghar se baith ke jo cricket nahi khel raha” (There are plenty of options, you could make anyone captain, even someone sitting at home who isn’t playing cricket), he said, naming Azhar Ali and Misbah-ul-Haq as options.

He traced what made Pakistan’s past captains, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, and Waqar Younis among them, genuinely strong: a willingness to fight for the team over themselves. “Ahmed Shehzad ko jaana tha, gaya. Kamran ko jaana tha, gaya” (Ahmed Shehzad had to go, he went. I had to go, I went), he said, recalling his own axing among others dropped for the team’s sake. On Babar, Kamran was direct: “Babar mazboot captain nahi hai” (Babar isn’t a strong captain), not over one Test, he clarified, but his captaincy overall, someone who cannot yet walk up to the chairman and demand a player the way Imran or Inzamam once could.

The Edgbaston Test begins on September 9.