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Pakistan Cricket Team Reshuffles Squad Ahead of Final Test Against England
The scoreline is 2-0 to England. The reaction from Pakistan is 7-0.
In a stunning mid-tour shake-up, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has sent seven members of its Test squad back home and sacked both the head coach and bowling coach ahead of the third and final Test against England, starting September 9 in Birmingham.
This is not a tweak. It is a reset.
Seven out, seven in
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 touring party after heavy defeats at Leeds and Lord’s.
Rizwan and Imam are not fringe names. One is a senior wicketkeeper-batter, the other a long-time opening option. Both now find themselves on a flight home with a Test still to play.
In their place, Pakistan have summoned a fresh batch: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Fazal, Arafat Minhas, Saad Baig, Muhammad Randhawa, Razaullah and Muhammad Imran Jnr.
Five of them have already had a taste of international cricket. Two of them, Muhammad Randhawa and Razaullah, have never represented Pakistan at any level. Their first cap, if it comes, could arrive in the cauldron of a dead-rubber Test in England — though it hardly feels like a dead rubber for a side trying to salvage pride and direction.
Saim Ayub arrives with eight Tests behind him, Abdullah Fazal with two. Left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Arafat Minhas has worn Pakistan colours in three ODIs and four T20Is, and now stands on the brink of a Test debut.
The rest of the incoming group carries a domestic edge. Mohammad Imran Jnr offers left-arm pace. Saad Baig, a wicketkeeper-batter, was Player of the Tournament in the 2025-26 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, a season that forced the selectors to take notice. The right-arm pace-bowling all-round options come in the form of Mohammad Imran — also known as Imran Randhawa — and Razaullah, both now thrust into the Test conversation.
They will link up with the squad in Birmingham, walking into a dressing room that has been dramatically reshaped in a matter of hours.
Coaching clear-out
The changes do not stop with the players.
Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul have been relieved of their duties mid-series. In their place, the PCB has turned to Mike Hesson as head coach and Ashley Noffke as bowling coach.
It is a bold call, and a brutal one. Two Tests into an away tour, with the series already lost, Pakistan have chosen to redraw the entire blueprint rather than simply patch the cracks.
The defeats at Leeds and Lord’s clearly forced hands. The response is sweeping: a new coaching brain trust, a revamped support cast on the field, and a captain, Babar Azam, now tasked with welding it all together in a matter of days.
A new-look squad for Birmingham
The updated Pakistan Test squad for the third match reads like the start of a new phase rather than the end of a series:
- 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
- Ubaid Shah
There is experience in there — Babar, Mohammad Abbas, Shan Masood, Saud Shakeel — but the message from the PCB is unmistakable: no one is safe if performances dip, reputations included.
Pakistan now head to Birmingham not just to contest a final Test, but to answer a sharper question: is this the start of a necessary rebuild, or the sign of a team lurching from one drastic measure to the next?
