Pakistan cricket has not had a week like this in a very long time. Seven players sent home. Two coaches sacked. Five uncapped players drafted into an active Test series. A show-cause notice sent to the selection committee. And now the most respected name, Misbah Resigns as Selector, has walked out the door as well. This is not a crisis. This is a complete structural meltdown happening in real time.
What Happened on September 1 inside PCB
Misbah ul Haq submitted his resignation from the Pakistan men’s national selection committee via email on September 1, 2026. He stepped down with immediate effect, one day after the PCB made wholesale changes to the Test squad mid-series in England.
The PCB has not yet formally accepted his resignation. Misbah is expected to serve a notice period before formally stepping away. But the intent is clear. He is done. Alongside his committee resignation, Misbah also decided to leave his role as batting consultant at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, walking away from both positions simultaneously.
Why Misbah Resigns as Selector
The reason behind his resignation is precise and deeply revealing. Misbah’s central grievance is that he was not consulted about the selection of the seven replacement players announced on August 31. The PCB made the squad overhaul without informing him or seeking his input.
He was a member of the selection committee. His job was to select Pakistan’s Test squad. The board bypassed that process entirely when they made the most significant mid-series squad changes in Pakistan cricket history.
Misbah considered the overhaul without taking him into confidence as a fundamental failure to honour his role. He chose to resign rather than remain in a position where his authority meant nothing.
The Show-Cause Notice To Selection Committee
What pushed Misbah’s resignation from a quiet internal decision to a public crisis is what RevSportz revealed alongside it. The PCB’s chief operating officer Sumair Ahmad Syed sent a formal show-cause notice to the entire selection committee on August 31.
The notice asked the selectors to explain the rationale behind selecting Mohammad Rizwan and Imam ul Haq for Pakistan’s England and West Indies Test tours.
The notice read directly: you, being a member of the selection committee, participated in the meeting of the selection committee held on June 2, 2026, wherein you were entrusted with the responsibility and authority to consider and select players for selection to the Pakistan men’s national Test squad for the aforementioned series.
It then asked the selectors to provide a written explanation regarding the basis and rationale for the selection of the said two players.
The PCB sacked both players mid-series and then sent a legal document to the committee that selected them asking why they were chosen. The committee was being blamed for decisions the board ultimately ratified. Misbah’s response was to resign rather than write a justification for doing his job.
A Selection Committee That No Longer Exists Officially
The selection committee Misbah has resigned from is now effectively a ghost of what it was in March. The four-member panel formed earlier this year included Aaqib Javed, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Misbah ul Haq, and Asad Shafiq.
Sarfaraz Ahmed was removed as Test head coach on August 31. He was also a member of the selection committee. Whether his committee role ends alongside his coaching dismissal has not been formally confirmed.
Now Misbah has resigned. Reports from Yardbarker suggest Asad Shafiq could also be considering leaving following these developments. Aaqib Javed is the only confirmed remaining member of the original four.
The committee formed six months ago to bring stability to Pakistan’s selection process has been dismantled by a combination of sackings and resignations inside 48 hours.
Pakistan’s WTC Position Adds Urgency to the Chaos
All of this is happening while Pakistan are at the bottom of the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 standings. They have won just two of eight matches in the current WTC cycle. They sit last. England lead the series 2-0 with one dead rubber remaining.
The third Test at Edgbaston starts on September 9. Pakistan go into that match with a new coaching setup led by Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke, five uncapped players who have never played a Test match, a suspended head coach, a resigned selector, a player under investigation for faking injury, and a show-cause notice hanging over the committee that picked the original squad.
That is the context in which Pakistan cricket walks onto the Edgbaston pitch next week. The WTC points picture and exactly how bad Pakistan’s standings are compared to where they need to be to have any relevance in the current cycle is explored in our piece on the ICC World Test Championship 2025-2027 format and how it works.
Misbah’s History With the PCB
This is not Misbah ul Haq’s first complicated exit from a PCB role. His involvement with Pakistan cricket administration has followed a recurring pattern of senior appointments followed by difficult departures.
He was appointed head coach and chief selector in 2019. He resigned as chief selector in October 2020 to focus solely on coaching. He resigned as head coach the following year. He was brought back as an advisor by the then-PCB management committee.
He was appointed to the selection committee in March 2026 as part of a fresh panel revamp following Aleem Dar’s resignation after the T20 World Cup.
Six months later he is gone again. Every time Misbah has entered the PCB structure, he has left under difficult circumstances. The pattern reflects a broader problem with how the board manages its senior appointments rather than any specific failing on Misbah’s part.
Rashid Latif’s Damning Assessment
Former Pakistan wicketkeeper and commentator Rashid Latif had already described the PCB’s management as the worst cricket board in 70 years following the squad overhaul. His comments reflect the sentiment among the large section of Pakistan’s cricket community that is watching the last week’s events with something between disbelief and despair.
The scale of what has happened since the Lord’s defeat is genuinely extraordinary. No cricket board has sacked a head coach, released seven players, recalled five uncapped replacements, issued show-cause notices to the selection committee, and received a senior selector’s resignation all within 72 hours of a single Test match defeat.
All of this for a dead rubber third Test that cannot change the series result. The history of how Pakistan cricket has handled leadership transitions and selection accountability over the years is explored in our piece on Pakistan cricket team captaincy past and future, and this week’s events are among the most chaotic in that long and complicated story.
What Comes Next For Pakistan Cricket
The PCB has not publicly responded to Misbah’s resignation. No formal statement from the board has been issued. The board’s silence since August 31 on almost all of these developments is its own kind of statement.
Mike Hesson is preparing to coach his first Test match. Babar Azam is preparing to lead a squad of unfamiliar faces. Five players who have never played Test cricket before are in England getting ready for a match at Edgbaston. And somewhere in Lahore, a selection committee that barely exists anymore is presumably working on written explanations for a show-cause notice it received less than a week ago.
Pakistan cricket will survive this week. It always does. But the questions about how a board allows itself to reach this specific position of chaos deserve honest answers that go beyond any individual resignation.
Conclusion
Misbah ul Haq has resigned as Pakistan selector. He was not consulted on the squad overhaul. The PCB sent him a show-cause notice asking him to justify his selections. He responded by walking away from both his committee role and his NCA position simultaneously. The selection committee that was meant to bring stability to Pakistan cricket has effectively ceased to exist in less than six months. The dead rubber at Edgbaston starts on September 9. Pakistan cricket arrives there looking like a completely different organisation from the one that boarded a flight to Leeds at the start of August.
