Pakistan spinner Usama Mir has taken a thinly veiled swipe at the country’s cricket establishment amid the turmoil triggered by the team’s disastrous Test tour of England, suggesting that the system had already been “destroyed” before those in charge began attempting to repair the damage.
Mir’s remarks came shortly after the Pakistan Cricket Board carried out a sweeping mid-series overhaul following successive heavy defeats against England, releasing seven players as well as Test head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul.
“Amazing how someone managed to destroy the entire system, and nobody even noticed,” Mir wrote on X. The leg-spinner followed that up with another pointed post: “Ab pachhtaye kya, jab chidiya chug gayin khet.”
The popular Hindi-Urdu proverb is used to describe a situation in which action or regret comes only after the damage has already been done. Mir did not name the PCB or any individual in either post. However, the timing of his remarks, coming in the immediate aftermath of Pakistan’s dramatic restructuring of the Test set-up, left little ambiguity over the larger crisis he appeared to be addressing.
Pakistan’s England debacle sparks drastic action
The upheaval followed a brutal start to Pakistan’s three-Test series in England. Pakistan were crushed by an innings and 103 runs in the opening Test at Headingley before England completed a 194-run victory at Lord’s to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. Pakistan were bowled out for 110 in their first innings at Lord’s and managed only 194 while chasing 389 in the second, despite Saud Shakeel’s fighting 97.
Within a day of the Lord’s defeat, the PCB announced a major shake-up. Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman, Aamir Jamal, Muhammad Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad were all released from the Test squad.
Five of those seven – Rizwan, Imam, Salman, Ali Usman and Khurram – had featured in the Lord’s Test. The board simultaneously removed Sarfaraz and Gul from the coaching staff, with white-ball head coach Mike Hesson taking charge of the Test side and Ashley Noffke joining him in the backroom team.
Seven replacements were called up for the third Test at Edgbaston, including Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal. Arafat Minhas, Mohammad Imran Jnr, Saad Baig, Mohammad Imran Randhawa and Razaullah were the other additions, with five of the incoming players yet to play Test cricket. The extent of the overhaul, while a Test series was still in progress, has fuelled criticism over the direction in which Pakistan cricket is being managed.
Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja described the changes as a “panic button” reaction, while Shahid Afridi questioned the thinking behind the selections. Former Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur was even more critical, describing the developments as “absolutely ridiculous” and pointing towards the lack of stability and long-term planning within the system. Misbah-ul-Haq, who was part of the national selection committee, has also offered his resignation following the restructuring. It is against that backdrop that Mir’s two posts carry particular weight.
Rather than merely questioning who was dropped or appointed after the Lord’s defeat, his “destroy the entire system” remark appeared to target a deeper malaise within Pakistan cricket. His subsequent proverb sharpened the message further: that dramatic corrective measures are of limited value if the underlying damage has already been allowed to take place. Pakistan will have one final opportunity to salvage something from the tour when the third Test begins at Edgbaston on September 9. But irrespective of the result in Birmingham, the fallout from the first two Tests has already expanded well beyond performances on the field.