When Was The Last Time Before England Pakistan Team Underwent A Massive Change?

The Pakistan cricket team [Source: AFP]

The Pakistan cricket team have faced a major overhaul within just a few days of their Lord’s Test defeat against England. The Sarfaraz Ahmed-coached unit was revamped with new Pakistan Test coach Mike Hesson, along with squad changes made ahead of the September 9 clash at Birmingham.

The panic announcement from PCB, though, was not a first. There have been earlier instances too when the team have produced knee-jerk reactions following historic defeats or a series of collapses. 

With the neighbour of India getting a fresh look for their Test setup amid the England tour, let’s take a look at the most recent massive overhaul they underwent before the August 31, 2026 announcement.

PCB went for a massive upgrade after the 2023 World Cup failure

The Pakistan cricket team under captain Babar Azam failed miserably in the Cricket World Cup 2023. They suffered a group stage exit with 4 wins from the 9 games they played.

After 2 opening wins against Sri Lanka and the Netherlands, the Men in Green suffered four straight defeats before recovering against Bangladesh, followed by a win against New Zealand. They lost their last group stage match against England, sealing their exit from the tournament.

Following the exit, the Pakistan Cricket Board immediately dismissed the entire coaching staff. Team Director Mickey Arthur, head coach Grant Bradburn, and batting coach Andrew Puttick were stripped of their duties and reassigned to the National Cricket Academy. Then fast-bowling coach Morne Morkel also resigned from his role just days prior.

Interestingly, chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq stepped down during the tournament and was replaced by Wahab Riaz amid the World Cup. In place of Mickey Arthur, Mohammad Hafeez was brought in as the new Director of Cricket.

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Babar Azam was removed from Pakistan captaincy duties

Reportedly, Babar Azam, the captain of the Men in Green, was forced to exit his role from all the formats with Shan Masood named as the new Test captain and Shaheen Afridi as the new T20I leader. 

To PCB’s credit, underperforming individuals like Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz, and Shadab Khan were then phased out to integrate fresh domestic talent.

The highest run-scorer in the 2023 World Cup, though, was Mohammad Rizwan with 395 runs in his bag and an average of 65.83. Babar Azam meanwhile bagged 320 runs at an average of 40.00.

From the bowling unit, Shaheen Afridi was the highest scalper with 18 timbers alongside contributions from Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim and Hasan Ali.

Did Pakistan’s overhaul in 2023 bring any change?

The team, before the overhaul since 2022, managed 22 wins out of 34 ODI games with an excellent W/L ratio of 2.00 and a win percentage of 64.70%. In Europe especially, the team managed 3 out of 3 wins from January 2022 to the 2023 World Cup exit revamp.

Since the overhaul after the 2023 tournament, the team have managed to win only 17 ODI games from 32 matches, having a W/L ratio of 1.133 and a win percentage of 53.12%. 

Interestingly, the team have been most successful against Australia and South Africa since then, while losing all one-dayers against New Zealand since November 2023.

If taken a look at the all-format performance, since 2023, the team’s performance has been underwhelming. Across Tests, ODIs and T20Is, Pakistan managed 60 match wins from 125 appearances at a win percentage of only 48%.

With Mike Hesson now the all-format coach of the team, the Babar Azam-led unit will look to turn things around, especially for the WTC 2025-27 cycle while also preparing for the upcoming World Cup 2027.

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