No. 1 to ‘laughing stock’: Inside cricket’s ugly 10-year fall … and Dizzy axing that sparked chaos
Broad tears into Ul-Haq at Lords | 00:26
Tim Miller from Fox SportsSeptember 4th, 2026 12:07 pm
Ten years ago, Pakistan cricket stood on top of the world.
In August of 2016, a 2-2 series draw on a five-Test tour of England secured Misbah-ul-Haq’s team the No. 1 Test ranking for the first time ever.
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Making it even sweeter? The ascension came at the expense of their bitterest of foes, India.
It was vindication for a team which had
It was vindication for a team which had spent a generation as cricket’s nomads, and after years of off-field turbulence, on-field upheaval and scandal galore.
They played nearly all their matches out of the United Arab Emirates after a 2009 terrorist attack on a touring Sri Lankan team bus left no other nation willing to travel to Pakistan.
A year later, captain Salman Butt and fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were imprisoned and banned – for life for the former duo, for six years for the latter – for orchestrating to spot-fix during a Test against England.
It made their rise to top the rankings
It made their rise to top the rankings – a year out from unexpected glory in the Champions Trophy, once again in England – a Cinderella story to rival a famous win at the 1992 World Cup in Australia.
“It’s quite a remarkable effort and very significant in the context of them not being able to play matches at home,” then-Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said of the achievement.
“And on behalf of everyone in Australian cricket, I say congratulations.”
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Fast forward to the present day, and not just the team, but Pakistan cricket as a whole, is in disarray.
The Test XI was derided as the nation’s
The Test XI was derided as the nation’s “worst side in 50 years” by English scribe Scyld Berry in The Telegraph heading into their tour of England.
With one match still to play, the Pakistan Cricket Board responded to a pair of heavy defeats as emphatic as they were predictable by sending seven players, coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul, home in one fell swoop.
The great Misbah has sinced joined them out the door, resigning as selector in protest over not being consulted before the PCB axe fell.
It’s just the latest chaotic series of events
It’s just the latest chaotic series of events in a decade-long fall from grace.
FROM FEARED TO ‘WORST IN 50 YEARS’: PAKISTAN’S TALENT DRAIN
Within 12 months of Misbah being presented with the Test mace by ICC CEO David Richardson, the cracks were starting to emerge.
A sensational underdog run at the 2017 Champions Trophy – a tournament at which they entered as the lowest-ranked team and were humbled by India in their opening game before a stunning run of form saw them blitz the field, including India in a one-sided final – was Pakistan cricket at its mercurial best.
But in the Test arena, the winds of change were blowing.
In May 2017, Misbah and Younis Khan bowed
In May 2017, Misbah and Younis Khan bowed out together with a thrilling win over the West Indies – the famous “why did he do that?” match where Windies tailender Shannon Gabriel was bowled slogging Yasir Shah on the last ball he needed to survive.
Their departure, with a combined 15,321 runs and 193 Tests, left a batting hole that, nine years on, is yet to be filled.
Since their joint retirement, just four Pakistani batters have a Test average higher than 40: captain Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, and long-discarded pair Abid Ali and Shadab Khan.
The bowling has fared better, though with significant
The bowling has fared better, though with significant inconsistency: Shaheen Shah Afridi, the team’s leading wicket-taker since 2017 with 126 Test scalps, has played just 34 of a possible 64 red-ball matches in that time, and was dropped from the squad to tour England.
His flagging pace since a 2022 injury has caused particular concern, with selector – and former coach – Aaqib Javed citing it as a primary reason for his omission following a 2-0 loss to Bangladesh in May.
“It is unacceptable that their speeds drop to 126kph on the second or third day of a Test, which was the case in Bangladesh,” he said.
A CricViz report shows those fears aren’t unfounded.
Since March 2024, just one per cent
Since March 2024, just one per cent of balls bowled by Pakistan seamers in Test cricket have been about 140 kilometres per hour, least of all nine World Test Championship nations.
Australia, by comparison, are first with well over 20 per cent.
The pace crisis isn’t new, either: midway through a thumping loss to Australia in Adelaide in early 2019 characterised by David Warner’s triple-century, Ricky Ponting claimed he was “not sure [he’d] seen a worse bowling attack on our shores in a long time”.
The team’s World Test Championship performances have reflected their slide.
They finished sixth in the rankings in the inaugural 2019-2021 edition, seventh – ahead of only the West Indies and Bangladesh – for 2021-2023, and dead last in 2023-2025.
With a 2-4 record going into their tour
With a 2-4 record going into their tour of England, they were again bottom of the pile for the 2025-2027 edition before a single ball had been bowled.
In that context – and having lost eight of their last nine Tests away from home, few expected the series, against a team only recently out of its own state of disarray after a tumultuous end to the Brendon McCullum-Ben Stokes era, to be anything short of a bloodbath.
Berry’s cutting “worst in 50 years” remark has proved accurate: opener Azan Awais was trapped LBW by Robinson with the first ball of the series, and things haven’t improved.
In four innings, the team haven’t yet reached
In four innings, the team haven’t yet reached 200 with the bat, while sloppy fielding and turgid bowling have given a fragile England batting order few difficulties.
England end long Test drought | 01:18
‘ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS’ CALL SUMS UP NEW LOW
Despite all that, the PCB, clearly, expected more, such was the ruthlessness of the clear out with one Test to go.
Any improvement, though, seems unlikely: five of the seven new squad members have never played Test cricket, while a sixth, opener Abdullah Fazal, has played only two.
Eight-cap recipient Saim Ayub is positively a veteran by comparison.
Most remarkable of all
Most remarkable of all? One of the seven axed, left-arm spinner Ali Usman, took a five-wicket haul to be one of the team’s few bright spots at Headingley.
Former great Shahid Afridi summed it up best when he wrote on X: “Even the replacements make no sense – T20 players have been included for a Test match in England?”
Former captain Mohammad Yousaf was even blunter, pointing the finger directly at the PCB itself.
This move reflects the familiar cycle of internal
“This move reflects the familiar cycle of internal chaos, differences of opinion, and controversies that have long haunted Pakistan cricket,” he wrote.
“Since the glory of the 1992 World Cup, such turbulence has resurfaced time and again, eroding stability and distracting from the game itself.
“We have endured such turmoil in different forms many times before, each episode leaving scars on the team’s progress and the fans’ faith.”
ESPNCricinfo’sDanyal Rasool, meanwhile, wrote that not only
ESPNCricinfo’sDanyal Rasool, meanwhile, wrote that “not only was this not the Test team that came to England, but in many ways not a Test team at all”.
Most biting of all was the critique from Mickey Arthur, the former Australian national coach who was at the helm for Pakistan’s world No. 1 ranking ascension in 2016 and the Champions Trophy glory a year on.
“Absolutely ridiculous decisions by the PCB,” he wrote.
“This is the reason they are in the mess they are because they constantly chop and change players, coaches and selectors and there in no stability.”
Arthur had previously told Al Jazeera in 2023: “The instability within Pakistan cricket creates chaos.
The players ultimately start playing for themselves because
“The players ultimately start playing for themselves because they do not know what the next regime has in mind. It breeds mediocrity,” he added.
‘SHOULD HAVE TRIED’: SELECTOR’S EXTRAORDINARY ATTACK
Imagine if George Bailey had reacted to Usman Khawaja’s back injury in last year’s first Ashes Test by accusing him of faking an injury and demanding an investigation.
In essence, that has been the response of Pakistan selector Aaqib Javed to the calf injury that saw Imam-ul-Haq’s performance in the second Test limited to fielding on the first day, and a much-publicised hobbling series of throwdowns on the fourth morning.
Stuart Broad slammed the act as all
Stuart Broad slammed the act as “all for show” – but speaking to Pakistan news channel Geo TV, Aaqib went significantly harder.
“How is it possible that you failed to come out to bat in both innings after pulling up a muscle?” he asked.
“The Imam injury is a big question mark, and a deep disappointment,” he said.
“Players in the past used to get injuries, but they used to put on casts and still tried.
We’ll take action against this
“We’ll take action against this. How is it possible that a pulled muscle ruled you out of batting in both innings?
“He should have tried and fought. He’ll have to face an inquiry.
“I can’t say he faked it, but a muscle pull like that cannot stop you from batting altogether.”
Imam’s injury has been publicly diagnosed by Pakistan as a calf tear, having been upgraded from a “low-grade calf injury” earlier in the Test.
The opener was one of the seven sent
The opener was one of the seven sent home, and according to reports, could even face a two-year ban from his own board.
‘BLINDSIDED’ AUSSIE GREAT CAUGHT IN COACHING MERRY-GO-ROUND
Since Arthur was ousted in 2019, nine head coaches have come and gone.
Arthur’s departure came after a coaching panel, which included Misbah, deemed he was not the man to take them further than the 2019 World Cup, and replaced him with … Misbah, who was also given chief selector duties to make him the nation’s most powerful cricket figure.
He himself resigned in 2021, citing the strain of COVID-19 biosecurity protocols; Saqlain Mushtaq, Abdul Rehman and New Zealander Grant Bradburn would come in and go out by 2023.
Mohammad Hafeez was appointed in November 2023 following
Mohammad Hafeez was appointed in November 2023 following an earlier than expected World Cup exit; he was sacked three months into what he claimed on X was a planned four-year stint.
Most recently, Sarfaraz, who captained their Champions Trophy triumph, was appointed head coach in May 2026, mere months after retiring from international cricket.
His stint was barely longer than Hafeez’s: five months before paying the ultimate price for the team’s failures in England.
Mike Hesson, parachuted in from the white-ball coach
Mike Hesson, parachuted in from the white-ball coach to manage the Test team, is the tenth appointment in the last seven years.
Most telling of all the coaches brought in and discarded is the fate of Jason Gillespie, who spent barely eight months as the team’s Test coach – and briefly interim white-ball coach after the resignation of Gary Kirsten – before quitting in acrimonious circumstances.
Hired in April 2024, the former Australian great’s relationship with the PCB had by December deteriorated to such an extent that he refused to board a flight from Adelaide to South Africa to join the team.
He would later tell ABC Radio he had
He would later tell ABC Radio he had been “completely and utterly blindsided” by the choice to not renew fellow Aussie Tim Nielsen’s contract as the Test team’s high performance coach.
“The straw that broke the camel’s back, I suppose, was, as a head coach, you like to have clear communication with your employer,” he said.
“I felt I was basically hitting catches and that was about it on the morning of a game.”
The Nielsen axing followed Gillespie himself being sacked
The Nielsen axing followed Gillespie himself being sacked as selector, along with then-captain Shan Masood, midway through a home series in mid-2024 against … England.
Sound familiar?
Having copped an innings defeat on a Multan featherbed on which Harry Brook plundered 317 runs and Joe Root 262 as part of a video game tally of 7/823 declared, the response was extraordinary.
Pace pair Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah – once compared favourably to the likes of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis – were axed in favour of an attack featuring three frontline spinners in Sajid Khan, Noman Ali and Zahid Mahmood.
They then chose to reuse the same Multan
They then chose to reuse the same Multan pitch for the second Test … only with the addition of giant industrial fans and heaters to dry the wicket to within an inch of its life.
A similar tactic was then used for the third Test in Rawalpindi.
Naturally, the roads that had previously marked Pakistan’s return to Test cricket – surfaces Australian fans will remember from a runs-laden 2022 tour – became spinner’s paradises.
Sajid and Noman took all 20 wickets between them in the second Test and 19 in the third, and England’s runs utterly dried up for losses by 152 runs and nine wickets.
The series was won – and Gillespie was seething.
When I arrived, [the PCB] wanted to have
“When I arrived, [the PCB] wanted to have fast bowlers,” he’d later tell The Guardian.
“And they wanted to develop their fast bowlers. They wanted to play on surfaces that allowed for fast bowlers to thrive.
“And then a couple of Test matches were lost. New selectors were brought in and they decided that we’d play on used pitches and spinning tracks.
“It went against the long-term plan of developing bowlers, particularly fast bowlers.”
‘WORST IN 70 YEARS’: PCB’S ROLE IN DISASTER … AND LINGERING IMRAN KHAN FEUD
The issues eating Pakistan cricket, from the latest
The issues eating Pakistan cricket, from the latest mass squad cull to a carousel of coaching changes, and even the ongoing talent crisis, can be traced back to its board.
The PCB wields significant power even by comparison to other cricket authorities, such as Cricket Australia and the BCCI.
Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, after all, is Pakistan’s federal Interior Minister in addition to being in charge of the sport.
Nobody is speaking about how the current board
“Nobody is speaking about how the current board is the worst in the last 70 years,” former Pakistan wicketkeeper Rashid Latif said on Geo News.
“Nobody is talking about the worst selection committee and coaches … if you combine these issues, you will get the answer to your question. You will know who has ruined this team.”
The board’s chief involvement in the England series to date has been reports they threatened to prevent players from taking the field if broadcaster Sky Sports ran an interview with Michael Atherton and the sons of imprisoned former Prime Minister and cricket legend Imran Khan.
In the interview, Kasim Khan claimed authorities, who
In the interview, Kasim Khan claimed authorities, who have held the former captain and all-rounder in solitary confinement for three years amid rapidly failing health, were “blatantly trying to kill him”.
Both Babar and Safaraz, as captain and coach, are adamant there was no discussion in the dressing room about the prospect of a boycott: meanwhile, the PCB issued a formal complaint to Sky over the program.
Imran has been a long-term critic of Naqvi, both before and during his time in prison, describing him as a “sworn enemy” in 2022.
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Naqvi, meanwhile, has claimed reports from Imran’s family that he has lost 85 per cent of vision in his right eye while in prison as “propaganda”.
On the domestic scene, the PCB have repeatedly – and again for the 2026/27 season – made sweeping changes to domestic cricket in the country.
A radical overhaul in 2019/20 saw the competition
A radical overhaul in 2019/20 saw the competition reduced, on Imran’s urging while Prime Minister, to six teams.
That increased to eight in 2023/24, before a year later jumping to 18 across three pools of six teams; it then went back down to ten in 2025/26.
The 2026/27 season will feature 20 teams.
Add to that poor facilities and questionable pitches, and the quality of players rising through the domestic ranks has suffered.
Not having a decentralised first-class cricket structure has
“Not having a decentralised first-class cricket structure has finally caught up with the team, and it is the main reason for the decline in Pakistan’s performances,” former player and noted commentator Bazid Khan told The Athletic.
That the board is behind the mid-series axings that have taken the cricket world by storm is not disputed.
Misbah’s resignation as selector was prompted by his anger at not being consulted about the seven players set to replace them.
His fellow committee members have since been handed
His fellow committee members have since been handed a show cause notice demanding they explain their selection choices for the tour
It was the PCB who were particularly aggrieved by Imam’s Lord’s no-show, with journalist Saj Sadiq reporting in The Telegraph their view that he should have played through the pain – as Nathan Lyon did at the same venue during the 2023 Ashes, or England veteran Chris Woakes defying a dislocated shoulder to come out to bat with his arm in a sling in the fifth Test against India last summer.
Sadiq, who took to X to claim Pakistan cricket had become a “laughing stock”, also revealed that Mohammad Rizwan, the most experienced of the seven dropped players with 47 Tests to his name, was ousted as much for his poor shot selection as him having become a “disruptive presence” in the dressing room.
His report claims the seven, which includes stand-in
His report claims the seven, which includes stand-in first Test captain Salman Ali Agha as well as Rizwan, were informed by their families and friends that they were being sent home, with social media learning their fate before the PCB had passed the message on internally.
“It … sums up Pakistan cricket at its very worst,” Sadiq wrote.
“Bizarre decision-making, a lack of proper structure or professionalism and absolutely no attempt at proper communication.”
Pakistan enters the third Test against England with a new-look team, a stand-in coach, a board under ever-increasing scrutiny, and a cricket world acutely aware of both the plight of the team on the field and that of Imran Khan off it.
The ten years since Misbah lifted the ICC mace now feels like a lifetime ago.
Source: www.foxsports.com.au
