Usama Mir Critiques PCB Amidst Major Overhaul of Pakistan Test Setup

The wreckage of Pakistan’s tour of England has claimed its first major casualties. It has also sparked a pointed, public rebuke from within the system.

Leg-spinner Usama Mir, overlooked for the series, took to X with a thinly veiled swipe at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and team management after sweeping changes followed back-to-back defeats at Headingley and Lord’s that surrendered the three-match series with a Test to spare.

“Amazing how someone managed to destroy the entire system, and nobody even noticed,” Mir wrote, without naming names.

Then came the sting in Urdu: “Ab pachhtaye kya, jab chidiya chug gayin khet (It is no use crying over spilt milk).”

He never mentioned the PCB, coaches or captains. He didn’t need to. The timing did the talking.

PCB swings the axe after England losses

With Pakistan already 2-0 down and the final Test in Birmingham starting on September 9, the PCB has ripped up its plans mid-tour.

Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul have been sent home. In their place, white-ball head coach Mike Hesson and bowling coach Ashley Noffke have been asked to step across formats and take charge for the last Test.

The clear-out has extended to the dressing room.

• Seven players have been recalled from the tour: wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, injured opener Imam-ul-Haq, first Test captain Salman Ali Agha, spinner Ali Usman and pacer Khurram Shahzad — several of whom featured in the second Test at Lord’s — are all heading back.
• All-rounder Aamir Jamal and batter Awais Zafar are also on the plane home, leaving England without having played a single match.

The message is blunt: nobody is safe.

Sarfaraz’s brief tenure ends in away-day misery

For Sarfaraz Ahmed, the decision ends a turbulent three-month stint as head coach, defined almost entirely by failure on the road.

Under his watch, Pakistan have lost five of six away Tests: two in Bangladesh, one in the West Indies and now two in England. One draw in the Caribbean is the only result that offered even a sliver of relief.

The instability has not been confined to the dugout. Babar Azam’s second spell as Test captain, which began after Shan Masood was removed in May, has yet to arrest the slide.

Pakistan drew 1-1 in the West Indies under Babar, but in England they have been outplayed twice, quickly and conclusively. The broader picture is even darker: Pakistan have lost 10 of their last 11 away Tests.

Those numbers frame Mir’s frustration. His posts read less like a random outburst and more like a verdict on years of drift.

A system under fire

Mir’s words cut to the heart of Pakistan cricket’s recurring nightmare: the sense that structural problems are ignored until crisis hits, then answered with hurried, dramatic surgery.

“Amazing how someone managed to destroy the entire system,” he wrote. The “someone” is left open to interpretation — administrators, selectors, coaches, leadership as a whole — but the charge is clear. In his view, the damage is deep, and the reaction has come far too late.

The PCB has chosen to respond with change on a grand scale: coaches removed mid-tour, a reshaped support staff, a trimmed squad, a white-ball brain trust thrust into a red-ball rescue act.

Birmingham now looms as more than just a dead rubber. It is a live test of whether this jolt can stop a freefall that has dragged Pakistan to one of their bleakest away runs in modern Test history.

Mir has already given his verdict on the timing. The third Test will reveal whether the team can offer any kind of reply on the field.