Mohsin Naqvi defends Pakistan’s mass changes after 194-run Lord’s defeat

By Jack Shaw · Birmingham · Published: 13:50 BST

• PCB chair Mohsin Naqvi has defended dumping half the squad and the head coach after Pakistan’s 194-run defeat at Lord’s, telling Geo there was no other option.
• Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul were relinquished from their roles and seven players replaced before the third Test at Edgbaston — a game that is now effectively a dead rubber.
• Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik have both voiced disapproval on X, and Naqvi called it “unfair” to claim Pakistan cricket is in terminal decline.

Mohsin Naqvi has broken his silence on a drastic in-series cull, and his defence is blunt: results decide selection. The PCB chair says there was no alternative to wholesale replacements after the Lord’s defeat sealed the three-match series 2-0 for England — and he has hit back at what he framed as an attempt to “demotivate” his players.

What Mohsin Naqvi actually said

The PCB replaced seven players and moved Sarfaraz Ahmed and Umar Gul out of the head-coach and bowling-coach roles ahead of Edgbaston, a decision criticised by experts worldwide. Speaking for the first time since, Naqvi told Geo: “There is always criticism when it comes to team selection and I am not bothered by it. We are answerable for results and what happened in the last two matches is wrong. But we are looking for improvement in the Test format as we have had in the ODIs and T20Is.”

He also rejected as “unfair” the idea that Pakistan cricket is heading for a terminal decline, and warned against a design to demotivate the squad. Dave.Sport has followed this tour throughout, including Imran Khan’s claim that the PCB raised the prospect of cancelling the Lord’s Test. For the full chronological timeline of the series and the fallout, see the running coverage on ReadCricket.

The expert angle: the numbers Mohsin Naqvi is arguing against

The problem with “we are answerable for results” is that the results long predate this squad and this coach. Cricinfo notes the Lord’s loss was Pakistan’s 15th defeat in their last 20 Tests. They sit bottom of the World Test Championship standings — exactly where they finished the previous cycle. They have missed the semi-finals of the last three ICC tournaments, and went winless at their own Champions Trophy last year, exiting in the group stage.

Sack a coach after two bad matches and you are treating a years-long trend as a fortnight’s problem. That is the case Afridi and Shoaib Malik are effectively making: the churn is the symptom, not the cure. Sarfaraz and Gul were in post for the Headingley and Lord’s defeats — not for most of the other 13.

The comparison doing the rounds is bleaker still. Cricinfo draws a parallel with Pakistan hockey — four World Cups and three Olympic golds last century, then collapse, finishing 11th of 16 at the recent World Cup in a first appearance for eight years. Nobody wants that written about the cricket team in 20 years, which is exactly why Naqvi resists the decline framing.

Harder to defend is the timing. Replacements, several of them uncapped, get their chance in a dead rubber, in England, against an attack that has bowled Pakistan out for under 200 in every innings. Brave rebuilding, or an audition staged in the worst possible conditions?

So which is it — overdue accountability, or panic dressed up as a plan? Read our coverage of the England side of the Edgbaston selection picture and tell us where you land.