Pakistan Cricket Board Launches Internal Inquiry Amid Tour Turmoil

Pakistan’s tour of England, already lurching from one crisis to another on the field, has now been engulfed by controversy off it, with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirming an internal disciplinary inquiry into “media reports concerning discipline and conduct”.

The announcement dropped just days after one of the most sweeping mid-series overhauls in Pakistan’s Test history. Seven players were sent home, seven replacements summoned, and the team left 2-0 down in the three-match series after heavy defeats at Headingley and Lord’s.

Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed is out. So is assistant Umar Gul. For the final Test at Edgbaston, the white-ball head coach Mike Hesson and former Australia seamer Ashley Noffke have been drafted in to steady a dressing room that has barely had time to catch its breath.

PCB moves behind closed doors

In a carefully worded statement, the PCB confirmed that an internal process is under way, triggered by reports around player behaviour.

“The Pakistan Cricket Board has initiated an internal disciplinary inquiry following media reports concerning discipline and conduct, which are currently being reviewed internally.

“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.

“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 board then shut the door on further discussion, stressing it “will not comment further at this time” and urging “stakeholders and the public to rely on official PCB communications”.

The message was clear: the noise is growing, but the PCB wants to control the narrative.

Senior players axed in stunning cull

The scale of the selection cull has stunned the cricket world and rocked Pakistan’s camp.

Among those dismissed is Salman Ali Agha, who captained Pakistan in the opening Test before being dropped for the second. Wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, a central figure in Pakistan’s recent red-ball and white-ball campaigns, has also been sent home, along with opener Imam-ul-Haq, who did not bat in either innings at Lord’s because of a low-grade calf strain.

Former captain Shahid Afridi did not hold back, branding the PCB’s sweeping changes the “most shocking decision ever by a selection committee”.

The replacements underline just how deep Pakistan have had to dig. Of the seven players called up, only Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal have any Test experience. The rest arrive in the middle of a crisis, short on caps and long on pressure, with a series already lost and a firestorm swirling around the squad.

Noffke: ‘There’s always something going on in the background’

Thrown into this maelstrom is Ashley Noffke, elevated from his white-ball role to help guide a patched-up Test side at Edgbaston. Speaking to reporters in Birmingham on Monday, he admitted he has been kept at arm’s length from the disciplinary probe.

“I can be really honest in that I don't know too much,” he said. “I sit outside of that decision-making model, (which is) above us as coaches. We try and keep the players focused on what they need to worry about.”

Noffke has spent nearly 15 months working with Pakistan’s white-ball team. That stint has already taught him one thing about the job.

“One thing that I've learned about being in Pakistan and coaching for a period of time, nearly 15 months now with the white-ball team, is there's always something going on in the background.

“I think most of the time it's out of the players' control. They need to focus on the cricket that they have in front of them and the opportunity they have in front of them.

“We’re not really in the position to even know the outer workings of what's happening at PCB in that context.”

A series lost, a spotlight unrelenting

On the field, the situation is stark. Pakistan trail 2-0 in a three-match series, dismantled at Headingley and Lord’s, their senior core fractured, their leadership reshuffled mid-tour.

Off it, an internal inquiry now shadows every training session, every selection call, every move around the team hotel.

Edgbaston will not just stage a dead rubber. It will stage a stress test of Pakistan’s next tier, of Hesson and Noffke’s ability to insulate a shaken dressing room, and of a PCB trying to project control while its most high-profile team fights to hold itself together.

The result in Birmingham will fade soon enough. What comes out of this inquiry – and what it triggers for Pakistan’s Test future – will not.