Pakistan Cricket meltdown: Timeline of chaos, sackings, resignations, allegations

Two defeats that started it all

Pakistan’s tour of England started with two defeats in the three-Test series. They lost the first Test at Headingley by an innings and 103 runs and then the second Test to England at Lord’s by 194 runs.

The games saw very little to cheer for Pakistan, and back home the team was criticised by the media, former cricketers and the fans.

The Imam controversy

During the second Test at Lord’s there was a controversy over Imam-ul-Haq who claimed he had a left calf injury that prevented him from batting in either innings. But he was also spotted practicing on his batting in the middle of the game.

Imam now faces a formal investigation over suspicions that he exaggerated his injury.

“The Imam injury is a big question mark, and a deep disappointment,” Aaqib said in a conversation with Pakistan network Geo. “Players in the past used to get injuries, but they used to put on casts and still tried [to play]. We’ll take action against this. How is it possible that a pulled muscle ruled you out of batting in both innings? He should have tried and fought. He’ll have to face an inquiry; I can’t say he faked it, but a muscle pull like that cannot stop you from batting altogether.”

An unprecedented sacking of 7 players

The PCB responded to the defeats by sending home seven players: Muhammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman, Khurram Shahzad, Aamir Jamal and Muhammad Awais Jafar.

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.

File image of Pakistan’s head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed during a nets session in London, England ahead of the second Test Cricket Match between England and Pakistan. (PA via AP)

Misbah resigns as selector

According to media reports, PCB also served notices to members of the selection committee after the defeat at Lord’s demanding written explanations from them for selecting Rizwan and Imam in the squads for the tours of West Indies and England.

This led to Misbah-ul-Haq resigning as selector and opting to step down from his role as a batting consultant at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.

Disagreements in team selection

Pakistan has no chief selector. But former Pakistan cricketers like Basit Ali have claimed that the voice of Aaqib Javed carries most heft in selection committee meetings.

In an interview with Geo, Javed explained why seven players were recalled mid-tour and also revealed the faultlines in the selection panel when he said that he had tried to tell coach Sarfaraz and captain Babar Azam to include Ubaid Shah in the playing XI.

“Two Test matches have come and gone and the team has not competed in any way,” Aaqib said in the interview. “There’s one Test still to go. They [the management] had a pace allrounder available, a second wicketkeeper, a fast bowler in Ubaid Shah. But those decisions were not being made. I spoke to the captain [Babar Azam] and coach and asked them to put Ubaid in because the other bowlers [Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali and Khurram Shahzad] are all similarly paced.

“No batter in our top seven bowls. We should have included an allrounder, but most importantly, get in Ubaid Shah, who bowls close to 140kph. One fast bowler changes the composition of your attack. I understand dropping [Salman] Agha, who’s out of form, but you should have played Ghazi Ghori instead of [Mohammad] Rizwan [as the wicketkeeper]. Someone had to take action. The world is laughing at us because we can’t even compete. The message we’re sending to the recalled players is that you have to raise your game on important tours and compete, and we should be able to see some effort.”

Jason Gillespie and Aaqib Javed are currently embroiled in a war of words. (File)

Former Pakistan coach Jason Gillespie explained how influential Javed was.

“The appointment of Javed fundamentally altered the landscape,” Gillespie told The Telegraph in an interview recently. “From that moment, my relationship with Pakistan cricket completely changed. Aaqib came in and took over. It appeared to me that he was in charge of absolutely everything.”

“I went from looking after the Test side, managing that, looking after the players and the staff, and having a role in selection, to having absolutely no role in anything.”

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PCB announce ‘internal disciplinary inquiry’

PCB announced an “internal disciplinary inquiry”. PCB media director Amir Mir announced that the board’s disciplinary inquiry was “following media reports concerning discipline and conduct, which are currently being reviewed internally.” He did not specify what the inquiry was about.

“The PCB handles such matters in accordance with its standard procedures. The process is being conducted under PCB regulations, ensuring that all concerned individuals are given due consideration,” Mir said in a statement on X.

“At this stage, any speculative reports or unverified claims circulating on certain platforms, particularly those originating from hostile external sources, should not be regarded as credible. The PCB will not comment further at this time. The Board advises stakeholders and the public to rely on official PCB communications.”

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PCB chief Naqvi speaks up

Among the two people who have copped plenty of flak in Pakistan for the whole affair are PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi and selector Javed.

Naqvi gave an interview to Geo Network after the sacking of seven players to explain the board’s point of view.

“Every match of a series is important for us and we are not left with any option if a player is not performing but to look for his replacement. The purpose behind these changes is not to axe players from contention, but just to replace them. Consider [Salman] Agha who is a very good player, but he could not click because of some reasons. He was spoken to about it,” Naqvi had said justifying the PCB decision.

“Everyone has a right to criticise performances, but they portray these losses as terminal. It is not acceptable for those [former] players who have not achieved anything in life to push this narrative. I seek advice from former cricketers from time to time and I feel that we are doing poorly in Test cricket. We have had a discussion to ascertain the reasons behind it. They include factors beyond performance and we will get to the bottom of it … I would not allow anyone to blame the players for the sake of it and ask everyone to stop demotivating the players. It is unfair,” Naqvi had said before claiming that the criticism was amplified in a bid to get rid of him as the PCB chief.

“”They want to get rid of me [with this criticism], but let me share some facts,” he said. “We have jumped to number five from eight in ODIs and won four of the six series since we have appointed the new coaching set-up [under Mike Hesson]. We were ninth in T20Is and now sit at sixth and our success rate has climbed to 73% from 24. Yet, there is criticism that cricket is finished in the country,” Naqvi had said.

Claims of phones being seized

According to The Associated Press, local media in Pakistan claimed that the PCB had obtained data from the mobile phones of Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Rizwan before both players flew back to Pakistan.

The AP report cited Geo News that the phones of both players were taken into possession by the team’s security officer after Pakistan lost the second Test by 194 runs at Lord’s. The news channel said phones were handed back to the players hours before they left the UK.