Pakistan Cricket's Crisis: Cyber Crime Investigation After Lord's Defeat

The fallout from Pakistan’s bruising defeat at Lord’s has moved from the dressing room to the desks of cyber-crime investigators.

Mohammad Rizwan and Imam-ul-Haq, two of the seven players abruptly sent home after the 194-run loss to England, have now been summoned by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) over data obtained from their mobile phones, according to Geo News. A third Pakistan player has also reportedly received a notice.

Phones seized, questions mounting

Sources cited by Geo News say the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) first took custody of Rizwan and Imam’s phones before handing them over to “relevant authorities.” Those devices are now with the NCCIA, which has issued formal notices to both players and will examine the information retrieved as part of an ongoing inquiry.

Why the PCB moved to seize the phones in the first place is still a mystery. The board has offered no official explanation, no charge, no public detail on what prompted such an extraordinary step against centrally contracted cricketers in the middle of an overseas tour.

The silence has only deepened the sense of crisis.

From Lord’s defeat to sweeping changes

The NCCIA’s involvement is the latest twist in a turbulent fortnight for Pakistan cricket.

In the immediate aftermath of the heavy defeat at Lord’s, the PCB ripped up its Test plans. Seven players were released from the touring squad and ordered back to Pakistan: Rizwan, Imam, Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman, Aamer Jamal, Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad.

The coaching structure did not survive either. Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul were removed from their roles with the Test side. White-ball head coach Mike Hesson and bowling coach Ashley Noffke were drafted in to take charge of the team, an unusual mid-series reshuffle that underlined the depth of the board’s dissatisfaction.

What looked at first like a brutal sporting reset has now spilled into the realm of formal investigation.

Selection under the microscope

While the NCCIA prepares to comb through digital data, the PCB is running its own parallel inquiry — this one into how Rizwan and Imam were picked in the first place.

Earlier this month, the board sent a notice to a member of its Selection/Advisory Committee, demanding a written explanation for recommending the two players for Pakistan’s Test tours of the West Indies and England. Dated August 31, the letter asked the official to spell out the selection criteria, performance metrics and any other factors that justified their inclusion.

The PCB gave just 24 hours for a response and labelled the matter “urgent and of utmost importance.” Strong language, aimed not at the players but at the system that put them on the plane.

So Pakistan now finds itself in a rare position: a Test squad reshaped, a coaching staff overhauled, selectors under formal scrutiny and key players answering questions from a cyber-crime agency over the contents of their phones.

For a team already searching for stability after Lord’s, the real test may no longer be on the field.