Pakistan played with 10 batters in the Lord's Test against England.
Aaqib Javed, the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) director of high performance, has announced an inquiry into opening batter Imam-ul-Haq’s decision not to bat in either innings of the recently concluded Lord's Test against England due to a low-grade calf tear.
Imam sustained a Grade 1 tear in his left calf while fielding during England’s first innings at Lord’s. He was forced off the field after tea on Day 1, with Salman Ali Agha replacing him as a substitute fielder.
The southpaw sat out Pakistan's first innings—where the team collapsed for just 110 runs—and did not participate in the run chase of 389 runs. This left the visitors competing with only 10 active batters.
"The Imam injury is a big question mark, and a deep disappointment," Aaqib said while speaking on Geo. "Players in the past used to get injuries, but they used to put on casts and still tried [to play]. 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."
Despite attempting a few light throw-downs with heavy strapping before the fourth day’s play at Lord’s, Imam’s movement remained severely limited. Since the end of the Test match, he has been accused of being a repeated offender of faking injuries.
In fact, former England pacer Stuart Broad had labeled the left-hander’s injury actions as an "all for show" act.
Notably, Imam-ul-Haq was among the seven players released by PCB after the team’s series-conceding 194-run defeat at Lord’s. The board also dropped Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Rizwan, Ali Usman, Aamir Jamal, Muhammad Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad from the Test squad
Seven new players were also called up ahead of the third Test at Edgbaston, including five uncapped talents. The list features Saim Ayub, Abdullah Fazal, Arafat Minhas, Mohammad Imran Jnr, Saad Baig, Mohammad Imran, and Razaullah.
The PCB overhauled its coaching staff as well. Red-ball head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul were relieved of their duties. White-ball head coach Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke have taken over the backroom responsibilities for the rest of the England tour.
Addressing the sweeping changes, Aaqib said the PCB wanted to send a message to the recalled players that you have to raise your standards.
"Two Test matches have come and gone and the team has not competed in any way," Aaqib remarked. "There's one Test still to go. They [the management] had a pace allrounder available, a second wicketkeeper, a fast bowler in Ubaid Shah. But those decisions were not being made. I spoke to the captain [Babar Azam] and coach and asked them to put Ubaid in because the other bowlers [Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali and Khurram Shahzad] are all similarly paced.
"No batter in our top seven bowls. We should have included an allrounder, but most importantly, get in Ubaid Shah, who bowls close to 140kph. One fast bowler changes the composition of your attack. I understand dropping [Salman] Agha, who's out of form, but you should have played Ghazi Ghori instead of [Mohammad] Rizwan [as the wicketkeeper]. Someone had to take action. The world is laughing at us because we can't even compete. The message we're sending to the recalled players is that you have to raise your game on important tours and compete, and we should be able to see some effort."
The sheer scale of the administrative panic prompted former captain Misbah-ul-Haq to resign from the selection committee.
Aaqib, however, made it clear that he had no intention of following’s path. "When we select the team as coach or captain and make a squad, we're responsible for that squad. But once they go on tour, we cannot do anything about the match-to-match combination," he said. "No one doubted these players' performances when selected. But when players are completely out of form and you're not competing at all, then we needed to make a decision. When you're not making the right decisions despite getting messages conveyed to you to play the right combination [that's a problem]. Your captain, head coach and management have some responsibilities."
Aaqib vowed to support new Test head coach Mike Hesson in every manner, but accepted that the wholesale changes would not be enough for Pakistan to stage a comeback in the third Test.
"One man doesn't run a team. A coach and captain run the team concurrently. Mike Hesson has taken responsibility, and we'll try and support him in every way," Aaqib said. "Let's see how Babar and Mike work together. It's difficult to see us getting a result in one match, but people should see we still have talent."
(With Cricinfo Inputs)