ENG vs PAK 3rd Test: A Crucial Reset for Pakistan

The series is gone, but the story is nowhere near finished.

England walk into Edgbaston with a 2-0 lead and both hands already on the trophy, having crushed Pakistan by an innings and 103 runs at Headingley and by 194 runs at Lord's. For Joe Root’s side, this final Test is a luxury: a chance to manage bodies, test depth and fine-tune a formula that has looked ruthless in home conditions.

For Pakistan, it is something far more dramatic. It is a reset.

Seven players have been sent home. Two coaches have been removed mid-tour. A new interim regime has been dropped in for one game. The scoreboard may say “dead rubber”; the team sheet screams “rebuild”.

England steady, ruthless – and only tweaking

England’s changes are measured rather than manic.

Brydon Carse has been left out after the incident outside a Derby nightclub during the second Test, his removal from Root’s squad creating one opening in a pace attack that has already bullied Pakistan twice. The rest of the core remains intact; there is no appetite to dismantle a side that has dominated from the first session of the series.

Ollie Robinson is untouchable on current form. His match figures of 8 for 80 at Lord's pushed him past Jasprit Bumrah for the best Test bowling average of any bowler with at least 20 matches since the First World War. Those are not just good numbers; they are era-defining. He leads an attack that has given Pakistan’s batters no room to breathe.

Jofra Archer, back in the rhythm of long spells, and Gus Atkinson, sharp and relentless, round out a seam trio that has hunted in a pack. Shoaib Bashir offers spin, but this is a pace-led operation built to exploit English conditions.

The predicted XI reflects that balance:

• Ben Duckett
• Emilio Gay
• Jordan Cox
• Joe Root (c)
• Harry Brook
• Dan Lawrence
• Jamie Smith (wk)
• Gus Atkinson
• Ollie Robinson
• Jofra Archer
• Shoaib Bashir

There is experimentation at the top with Emilio Gay and Jordan Cox around the established class of Root and Brook, but the spine of the bowling remains. England can afford to tinker. They do not need to tear anything up.

Pakistan rip it up and start again

Across the corridor, the mood is very different.

Pakistan have used this final Test as a detonator. Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman, Aamir Jamal, Muhammad Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad have all been released from the squad. Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul have also been relieved of their duties.

Into the vacuum steps Mike Hesson, taking interim charge of the Test side alongside former Australia seamer Ashley Noffke. Hesson has not hidden his frustration with what Pakistan have offered so far.

“Pakistan is known for the pace, unusual actions, and mystery spin; we haven't really been able to present any of that,” he said. “From my perspective, it is about putting a balanced squad together, not only for this Test, so we actually have some variety in our attack.”

That line tells you everything. This is not just about saving face in Birmingham; it is about reshaping the attack in Pakistan’s own image.

Babar Azam returns to lead a team that barely resembles the one beaten at Lord's. He is set to open the batting, fronting up to the new ball in a completely reshuffled top order. Around him, the selectors have gone young and bold.

Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal come in as recognised top-order options, with only eight and two Test caps respectively between them. Five uncapped players have been added to the wider squad, and at least two of them are pushing hard for immediate debuts.

Wicketkeeper-batter Saad Baig, Player of the Tournament in the 2025-26 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, looks ready-made for a Test opportunity. Left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Arafat Minhas offers the kind of variety Hesson has demanded. Left-arm seamer Ubaid Shah and off-spinner Sajid Khan add more different angles, more questions for England’s batters.

The predicted XI has a distinctly fresh feel:

• Azan Awais
• Abdullah Shafique
• Saim Ayub
• Babar Azam (c)
• Saud Shakeel
• Saad Baig (wk)
• Mohammad Imran Randhawa
• Arafat Minhas
• Mohammad Ali
• Mohammad Abbas
• Ubaid Shah

This is not a gentle tweak. It is a youth movement rolled out on one of the toughest away tours in the game.

The right time for risk – and the wrong message?

On paper, the timing makes sense.

A dead rubber in England, against a settled side, is exactly the sort of game where you find out what Saad Baig’s temperament looks like under cloud cover, or whether Arafat Minhas can hold a line and length when Root starts sweeping. Pakistan are unlikely to turn the series around in one Test, so the downside is limited. The upside is information, experience, and perhaps a glimpse of the next generation.

Hesson’s diagnosis is hard to argue with. Pakistan’s attack has lacked balance and variety. It has not looked like the Pakistan of lore: no conveyor belt of quicks with quirky actions, no mystery spin to drag a game back from nowhere. Picking Ubaid Shah, backing Sajid Khan, and trusting a left-arm all-rounder in Minhas is an attempt to correct that.

The concern lies elsewhere.

Seven players discarded in one announcement. Two coaches removed mid-series. A captaincy carousel that saw Salman Ali Agha lead in one Test and disappear from the squad entirely by the next. That pattern points not to a long-term plan, but to a board lurching from headline to headline.

Edgbaston might give Pakistan a tantalising glimpse of their future. The question is whether that future will be allowed to grow, or whether this XI will simply be the next version ripped up when the noise gets too loud.