The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has taken the cricketing world by storm by dropping seven players and two coaches midway through their Test tour of England.
Pakistan suffered crushing defeats in the first two Tests—by an innings and 103 runs at Headingley, followed by a 194-run rout at Lord's. This handed England an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Following the debacle, the PCB took the unprecedented step of sending seven players home, including senior names like Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha.
Red-ball head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul were also relieved of their duties, with white-ball head coach Mike Hesson being given the backroom responsibilities for the rest of the England tour.
Seven players, including five uncapped, have been added to the squad ahead of the third and final Test at Edgbaston starting September 9.
The drastic mid-tour purge has triggered immense backlash. Australian legend Matthew Hayden, who has previously served Pakistan as batting coach as well as team mentor, slammed the PCB’s move and sympathized with the players.
“I really enjoy and enjoyed my time working with Pakistan. Nothing’s changed, though. You know, that is always the trouble. That’s not an environment, you know; a pressure cooker is an environment for the middle, not for all the other peripheral things that happen outside. And it’s just too difficult an environment to be consistent because this is the formula,” Hayden said on the Wisden Cricket podcast.
“Pakistan are always dark horses, because their natural talent is phenomenal. I mean, anyone who can see athletic ability can see that Pakistan has an abundance of it. The trouble is, it never gets focussed because it’s never allowed to get focussed. It’s always in chaos. They’re always standing on one toe, let alone two feet. So there’s no grounding. And that’s, you know, something that I did enjoy doing in the short time that I was with Pakistan. It’s just getting things back on an even keel and not so frantic. So it’s very difficult for them,” he added.
The former Australia opener emphasized that the biggest hurdle to Pakistan reclaiming its "world-beating status" is its own cricket culture.
By drawing a parallel to the West Indies, Hayden pointed out that both regions possess exceptional raw, supreme athletic talent. However, both have struggled to maintain consistent dominance due to systemic and structural issues rather than a lack of skill.
“Pakistan is that like the West Indies, who I specially mentioned, I would especially mention Pakistan as well, because you’ve got 350 million people in one country that adore cricket and yet every opportunity, cricket doesn’t allow cricket to get played. And that old saying, it’s just not cricket that is so important for this conversation with Pakistan. Because if you allow Pakistan and Pakistan allows Pakistan to just play freely and with trust, then they’ll take on anyone as simple as that because purely their athletic ability like the West Indies is supreme,” Hayden remarked.
