Pakistan players had no idea: Family messages revealed PCB's 'frustration' had exploded into 'full-blown upheaval'

Once world beaters, Pakistan cricket has long descended into chaos across formats. In Tests, in particular, the side has fallen to the bottom of the World Test Championship table in the current cycle, managing just two wins in eight games. But on Monday evening in London, the team was reduced to utter "shock and confusion" when nearly half of the side, along with two coaches, were released from the squad right in the middle of the Test tour of England.

The upheaval came a day after Pakistan suffered a harrowing 194-run defeat at Lord's, conceding the three-match series 0-2. It was their sixth loss in the WTC cycle.

In a drastic and unprecedented move, Pakistan removed seven players — Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Agha, Ali Usman, Aamer Jamal, Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad — from the squad. They were replaced by Saim Ayub, Abdullah Fazal and five other uncapped players. Sarfaraz Ahmed and Umar Gul, their head coach and bowling coach respectively, were also released from their duties ahead of the third Test, which begins on September 9, with their white-ball counterparts, Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke, sent to England to take charge.

According to a report in the UK's Telegraph , the seven players were not even aware of their fate until they began receiving messages from friends and family on Monday evening. "Shocked and confused" by the messages, they were then sent social media posts of the PCB's statement. Some were out in London spending their day off, while the rest were at the team hotel.

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"At around 5pm on Monday, Pakistan players began receiving messages from friends and family, asking if they knew what was going on. The players, who were wandering around London on a day off or at the team hotel, replied that they had no idea what they meant," the report said. "Team management had not told them beforehand."

Pakistan have made sweeping changes in the past, but this was chaotic at its worst, with the move coming right in the middle of a series. Even more shocking was that two of the seven players — Jamal and Zafar — had not featured in any of the matches. It was only last month that Jamal was recalled to the Test fold for the tours of the West Indies and England. Both were used in the first Test against the West Indies in Tarouba, with Zafar making his debut in the format.

Meanwhile, sending back Usman was equally intriguing given that he had bagged his maiden five-wicket haul in the second innings at Headingley.