Pakistan Cricket Team Overhaul: Seven Players Cut Ahead of Edgbaston Test
Pakistan have not just tweaked their squad. They’ve torn it up mid-tour.
Reeling from a 194‑run hammering at Lord’s and staring at a 0-2 deficit in the three‑Test series, the Pakistan Cricket Board has launched a sweeping reset ahead of the third Test at Edgbaston, cutting seven players and removing both red-ball head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul.
This is not damage control. It is a clear admission that the current formula has failed.
Seven players out, five uncapped in
The axe has fallen on some big names. Former white-ball captain Salman Ali Agha, wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan and opener Imam-ul-Haq are among those released from the Test squad. Ali Usman, Aamir Jamal, Muhammad Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad complete the list of departures.
The PCB confirmed the overhaul in a stark statement: seven out, seven in. Five of the incoming players are uncapped at Test level, two have tasted the format before.
Into the squad come Test-capped batters Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal, along with left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Arafat Minhas. Saim has already played eight Tests; Abdullah has two caps. Minhas, yet to play a Test, has three ODIs and four T20Is for Pakistan.
Alongside them, four fresh faces at this level: left-arm fast bowler Mohammad Imran Jnr, wicketkeeper-batter Saad Baig, and right-arm pace-bowling all-rounders Mohammad Imran (also known as Imran Randhawa) and Razaullah. Baig arrives as the player of the tournament from the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2025-26, a clear nod towards rewarding domestic form and injecting new energy into a faltering red-ball setup.
It is a gamble. But after five defeats in their last six Tests, Pakistan have chosen risk over drift.
Rizwan, Imam under the spotlight
The Lord’s defeat did not just cost Pakistan the series. It shredded patience.
Imam-ul-Haq, sidelined with a calf injury sustained on the opening day and missing both innings, drew criticism when he appeared on the outfield for warm-ups on the fourth morning. Optics matter when a team is being outplayed. His absence with the bat but presence in warm-ups only intensified scrutiny.
Rizwan, once a pillar of Pakistan’s batting resolve, found himself under heavy pressure as well. Another lean outing and a second-innings dismissal that summed up the chaos — trapped lbw while attempting a slog — sharpened the debate around his place. For now, the selectors have answered that debate with a decisive cut.
Salman Ali Agha’s release underlines the scale of the shake-up. A recent white-ball captain being moved on mid-tour sends a message that reputations no longer shield anyone.
Sarfaraz and Gul removed as red-ball staff
The clear-out is not limited to players.
Red-ball head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul have also been relieved of their duties for the remainder of the England tour. In their place, white-ball head coach Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke will step into the Test backroom staff.
That move underlines the PCB’s urgency. Rather than wait for the series to end, they have effectively merged their coaching resources on the fly, asking Hesson and Noffke to arrest a slide that has already cost them the series.
It is rare to see such a dramatic mid-tour pivot at Test level. Yet Pakistan’s recent record — an innings-and-103-run defeat in Leeds followed by the Lord’s capitulation — has left little room for half-measures.
Edgbaston as a reckoning
So Pakistan arrive at Edgbaston on September 9 with a new-look squad, a reshuffled coaching team and a series already gone.
For the uncapped players, this is an abrupt but golden opening: a chance to step straight into a high-pressure Test in England with little time for baggage to build. For the senior group that remains, it is a warning shot. Performance, not profile, will decide who survives this transition.
England, 2-0 up and ruthless, will smell blood. Pakistan, stripped back and stung, have one Test left to show that this overhaul is the start of something, not just the fallout from another brutal tour.
