Pakistan Cricket Players Under Cyber Investigation After Lord's Defeat
The fallout from Pakistan’s bruising defeat at Lord’s has taken a sharp and unexpected turn, moving from the dressing room to the domain of cyber investigators.
According to Geo News, wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan and opener Imam-ul-Haq have been summoned by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), after data from their mobile phones was handed over by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). A third Pakistan player has also reportedly received a notice, dragging yet another name into an increasingly tangled saga.
From Lord’s to a cyber crime probe
The chain of events began with Pakistan’s 194-run loss to England at Lord’s, a defeat that triggered sweeping changes. The PCB reacted hard and fast, releasing seven players from the Test squad and sending them back home: Rizwan, Imam, Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman, Aamer Jamal, Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad all made the cut for the exit list.
Coaching staff did not escape either. Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul were removed from their roles, with white-ball head coach Mike Hesson and bowling coach Ashley Noffke drafted in to take charge of the Test side.
Just as Pakistan cricket seemed to be bracing for a standard post-tour inquest, the story veered into far more sensitive territory.
Phones seized, questions mounting
Sources cited by Geo News say the PCB first took custody of Rizwan and Imam’s mobile phones before passing them on to “relevant authorities.” Those authorities are now confirmed as the NCCIA, which has issued formal notices to both players and will examine information retrieved from their devices as part of an ongoing inquiry.
What exactly prompted the PCB to seize the phones remains unknown. The board has not provided any official explanation, leaving a crucial gap in the narrative and fuelling speculation across the cricketing landscape.
For now, the facts are stark: the players’ devices are with cyber crime investigators, and Rizwan and Imam have been called in for questioning.
Selection under the microscope
The cyber angle is not the only cloud hanging over the pair.
Separate to the NCCIA’s involvement, the PCB has already opened an internal inquiry into how Rizwan and Imam were selected for Pakistan’s Test tours of the West Indies and England. Earlier this month, the board served a notice to a member of its Selection/Advisory Committee, demanding a written explanation for recommending both players.
In that August 31 notice, the PCB asked the committee member to spell out the selection criteria, performance metrics and any other factors that led to their inclusion in the Test squad. The board labelled the matter “urgent and of utmost importance” and gave just 24 hours for a detailed response.
Selection, performance, now cyber scrutiny. For two senior players who have been central to Pakistan’s plans across formats, the spotlight has rarely been harsher—or more complicated.
What began as a routine post-series shake-up has turned into a multi-layered investigation, with the answers now lying not just in scorecards and selection meetings, but in the data pulled from a pair of confiscated phones.
