3 min readUpdated: Sep 9, 2026 03:15 PM IST
Pakistan’s England tour was sent for a tailspin last month when the Pakistan Cricket Board called 7 of their Test players back and replaced them with 7 new players with not much experience in the longest format after they lost the second Test to England.
Ahead of the third Test, captain Babar Azam was asked if he knew that these major changes were coming. “It was news to me as well. I only found out about all these things later. PCB made the decisions, so they can explain it to you better,” he said.
Last month, Muhammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman, Khurram Shahzad, Aamir Jamal and Muhammad Awais Jafar were sent back after the defeat in the second Test. Out of these seven players, Aamir Jamal and Muhammad Awais Jafar did not play in either game but were still penalised. In their place, Saim Ayub, Abdullah Fazal, Arafat Minhas, Mohammed Imran Jr, Said Baig, Mohammad Imran and Razaullah were called up. Of these seven, only the first two have played Tests for Pakistan.
Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and his assistant Umar Gul were also sacked with Pakistan white-ball coach Mike Hesson and former Australia seamer Ashley Noffke taking charge for the final Test.
With the third and final Test set to start on Wednesday, Babar on Tuesday said that Pakistan have nothing to lose and the team should now play more freely.
“The series is lost but we have nothing to lose. We should play freely and believe in ourselves as a team. We’ve practiced a couple of days and explained things to the new boys. Any young player who comes in is excited, and that excitement is visible. I believe that will be visible in the match, too,” he said.
“Whenever you go into a series or tournament, you back yourself to perform. As a senior player, you have to take on more responsibility. I firmly believe you need to grab opportunities and perform in difficult conditions. That’s why we play cricket, because we have to perform and dominate in difficult conditions. We need to forget about past failures and shift focus to the future,” he added.