Pakistan Cricket Overhaul: Naqvi's Bold Decisions After England Defeats
Pakistan have been battered in England. Now, the chairman has bitten back.
With England already 2-0 up and the series lost in brutal fashion — an innings defeat in the first Test, 194 runs in the second — the Pakistan Cricket Board has ripped up its Test squad ahead of the third and final match starting September 9. Seven players out. A clutch of uncapped faces in. Coaches moved on. The kind of overhaul that, in Pakistan cricket, always comes with noise.
Mohsin Naqvi says he is ready for it.
Chairman under fire, but unflinching
The PCB chief has come under heavy criticism from former players, fans and television analysts for sanctioning sweeping changes mid-series. The accusations have been familiar: panic, short-termism, interference.
Naqvi’s response has been just as direct.
He has called the decisions “essential” and insisted he is unmoved by the backlash, arguing that the state of Pakistan’s Test cricket left him with no choice. The team’s performances in England, he admitted, have been poor, but he pointed to what he sees as clear progress in white-ball formats during his tenure.
“I have never been afraid of criticism, and I never will be. Those who say cricket has been destroyed since I came – look at what the rankings were before,” he said, as quoted by Geo News, using Pakistan’s improved limited-overs standing as his shield.
Naqvi also hinted that his review extends beyond the scorecards. He is, he said, examining issues outside the immediate on-field failures, but stressed this is not the moment to air matters unrelated to cricket. For now, the focus is on a Test side that has been outplayed and outthought.
Seven out, a new core in
The pressure finally told after the second defeat. The PCB announced that seven players had been released from the Test squad: Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Agha, Ali Usman, Aamer Jamal, Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad.
In their place, Pakistan have gone for a bold, almost radical, reset.
Five uncapped players come in: Arafat Minhas, Mohammad Imran Jnr, Saad Baig, Mohammad Imran Randhawa and Razaullah. Alongside them, Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal are drafted, a pair with just 10 matches of experience between them.
It is a clear message. Reputation and seniority no longer guarantee survival, even mid-tour. Youth and potential have been fast-tracked into the cauldron of an away series in England — a gamble that could either be hailed as visionary or condemned as reckless by the time the final Test ends.
Coaching shake-up completes the reset
The overhaul has not stopped with the players.
The PCB have also moved on the Test coaching staff, turning again to familiar faces from the white-ball set-up. Mike Hesson has been appointed head coach and Ashley Noffke takes over as bowling coach, extending their roles across formats.
Sarfaraz Ahmed and Umar Gul, who had been part of the previous coaching structure, have been released from their positions. Another hard call. Another signal that Naqvi wants a single, coherent coaching philosophy running through Pakistan’s cricket.
For a board often accused of drift and indecision, this is anything but subtle. It is a hard pivot.
Whether it becomes the starting point of a new Test era or a cautionary tale about drastic change in the middle of a storm will be decided not in a press conference, but out in the middle when that third Test begins on September 9.
