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Cricket PlayersPakistan crisis deepens as Misbah-ul-Haq offers resignation following PCB's extraordinary mid-series England shake-up
Misbah-ul-Haq has offered to resign as Pakistan selector, adding to the turmoil after the PCB's sweeping mid-series overhaul during the England tour.
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Pakistan cricket’s latest bout of upheaval has deepened further, with former captain Misbah-ul-Haq offering to resign from the men’s national selection committee barely a day after the PCB ordered sweeping changes to the Test squad and coaching staff during the ongoing tour of England.
According to Cricinfo, the Pakistan Cricket Board has not yet accepted Misbah’s resignation. He has also decided to step down from his position as batting consultant at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, potentially ending both of his current assignments with the board. Misbah’s decision comes at a turbulent moment for Pakistan, who surrendered the three-match Test series after suffering a 194-run defeat at Lord’s to fall 2-0 behind. The result prompted the PCB to undertake a rare mid-series overhaul ahead of the final Test at Edgbaston, beginning September 9.
Seven players — Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Agha, Ali Usman, Aamer Jamal, Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad — were released from the touring squad. The board also removed Sarfaraz Ahmed and Umar Gul from their positions as Test head coach and bowling coach, respectively. The scale of the changes underlined the PCB’s dissatisfaction with the direction of the Test side, with the final match of the series effectively becoming the starting point of another reconstruction rather than merely an opportunity to salvage pride.
Misbah move adds to Pakistan turmoil
Deep Dive
Five uncapped players — Arafat Minhas, Mohammad Imran Jnr, Saad Baig, Mohammad Imran Randhawa and Razaullah — have been summoned to England, while Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal have also been added to the Test squad. Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke, who have been working as head coach and bowling coach, respectively, with Pakistan’s white-ball set-up, have now joined the Test coaching group.
Against that backdrop, Misbah’s resignation offer carries considerable significance. He had been appointed to the four-member selection committee in March alongside Aaqib Javed, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Asad Shafiq, giving him a central role in shaping Pakistan’s national squads.
Misbah was simultaneously serving as a batting consultant under a contract requiring him to work with the PCB for 180 days each year. His association with the Pakistan cricket administration has been extensive since his international retirement in 2017. Two years later, he was appointed Pakistan’s head coach and chief selector, combining two of the most influential positions in the national set-up.
He relinquished the chief selector’s role in October 2020 to concentrate on coaching before resigning as head coach in 2021. Misbah returned to the board’s fold two years later when Zaka Ashraf, then heading the PCB’s ad-hoc management committee, brought him in as an adviser. He remained involved after the present administration took charge in 2024 and was subsequently named among the five mentors for the men’s Champions Cup, a competition that has since been discontinued.
He has also worked with women’s teams in Pakistan’s domestic structure and, more recently, coached Pakistan Gold to victory in the 50-over National Champions Cup in Multan last month under Shaheen Afridi’s captaincy. His latest decision now threatens to remove another experienced figure from a system already being reshaped at considerable speed.
For the moment, however, Misbah remains officially part of the selection committee, with the PCB yet to formally accept his resignation. What is already clear is that Pakistan will arrive at Edgbaston with far more than a dead-rubber Test on their hands: the final match of the series will unfold amid a wider attempt to redefine the team, its coaching structure and, potentially, its selection hierarchy.
