There has been an earthquake in Pakistan cricket after the crushing defeat in the Lord's Test against England. Almost half the team has been sent home between the series. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has released 7 players from the team before the third and last Test. Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Aga, Ali Usman, Aamir Jamal, Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad have been dropped and 7 new players have been included in the team.
Interestingly, out of these 7 players, 5 are uncapped players. Arafat Minhas, Saad Baig, Muhammad Randhawa, Razaullah and Muhammad Imran Jr., who were included in Pakistan's squad, have not played any test match. Whereas Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal have returned to the Test team. Saim has the experience of 8 Tests, while Abdullah has the experience of 2 Test matches.
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Coaching staff also on leave
PCB has made major changes not only in the squad but also in the coaching staff. Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul have been removed. In their place, white ball team coach Mike Hesson and bowling coach Ashley Noffke have been made part of the coaching staff of the Test team.
The Pakistani team on the England tour has faced embarrassing defeats in two consecutive test matches. The team lost the first Test played in Leeds by an innings and 103 runs, while at Lord's it lost by 194 runs. PCB has taken this big step after the crushing defeat in the series. The third Test between Pakistan and England will be played in Birmingham from 9 September.
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Pakistan's updated squad for the third test against England: Babar Azam (captain), Abdullah Fazal, Arafat Minhas, Azaan Awais, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Imran, Mohammad Imran Jr., Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wk), Razaullah, Saad Baig (wk), Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shan Masood and Ubaid Shah.