Pakistan Cricket Board Launches Inquiry Amidst England Tour Controversy

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s tour of England has lurched from on-field collapse to off-field controversy, with the Pakistan Cricket Board confirming an internal disciplinary inquiry after abruptly sending seven players and two coaches home midway through the Test series.

The PCB has not named the players under investigation. It didn’t need to. The speculation had already begun.

Media director Amir Mir, speaking through a statement on X on Monday, confirmed that an inquiry into “discipline and conduct” was underway and being handled under the board’s regulations. He stressed that all involved would be given “due consideration” and urged the public to ignore “speculative reports or unverified claims,” especially those from what he called “hostile external sources,” and to rely only on official PCB communication.

That plea came as local outlets reported that the board had obtained data from the mobile phones of Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Rizwan before the pair flew back to Pakistan.

According to Geo News, the team’s security officer took possession of both players’ phones after Pakistan’s 194-run defeat in the second Test at Lord’s. The devices were reportedly returned only hours before Imam and Rizwan left the UK. The PCB has not publicly addressed those specific claims, beyond its broader warning against treating such reports as fact.

A Tour Unravels

On the field, the series has already been brutal. Two heavy defeats at Lord’s and Headingley triggered a sweeping, almost panicked reshuffle before the third and final Test in Birmingham.

Seven players were recalled. The Test coach was changed. The bowling coach was replaced.

Sarfaraz Ahmed, brought in as Test coach before the tour, has been removed and replaced by former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson. Bowling coach Umar Gul has made way for Australian Ashley Noffke, who has been working with Pakistan’s white-ball setup.

Noffke, speaking at Edgbaston after a training session, said he had no involvement in the disciplinary process.

“I sit outside of that decision-making model,” he told reporters, making it clear his focus lay on preparation, not politics. He added that in his 15 months around Pakistan cricket, “there’s always something going on in the background,” and that players needed to shut out the noise and concentrate on the “really great opportunities” in front of a highly skilled group of young cricketers.

That line summed up the tension of the moment: a dressing room trying to prepare for a Test while the ground shifts beneath their feet.

Big Names Sent Home

Among those sent back early were some of the most prominent figures in the squad.

Wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan, opener Imam-ul-Haq and Salman Ali Agha — who captained Pakistan in the first Test — were in the first batch of departures, leaving before Hesson had even joined the squad in the UK.

Fast bowler Khurram Shahzad and left-arm spinner Ali Usman, both involved in the first two Tests, were also released. Allrounder Aamir Jamal and Mohammad Awais were sent home without playing a single Test on the tour, a brutal end to what should have been a career-building trip.

The scale and timing of the clear-out have drawn sharp criticism back home. Former stars Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik have publicly questioned the wisdom of such sweeping changes in the middle of a series, a familiar chorus in Pakistan cricket whenever instability at the top spills onto the field.

Inside the PCB, the moves have been defended. Selector Aaqib Javed and chairman Mohsin Naqvi have backed the decision to act decisively after the twin hammerings in London and Leeds, arguing that the team needed a jolt.

Now, with an inquiry running in the background and a new coaching team hurriedly trying to steady the ship, Pakistan head into Birmingham under a cloud.

The series is gone. Reputations, and perhaps careers, are suddenly in play.

What remains to be seen is whether the third Test at Edgbaston becomes a starting point for a reset, or just another chapter in a tour that Pakistan will be desperate to forget.