Mohammad Rizwan to be dropped? Pakistan to make major changes for 3rd Test vs England

Just after their massive 194-run defeat during the second Test against England at Lord’s, on the back of their three-day innings defeat during the opening encounter of the series at Headingley, Pakistan have considered making a few major changes for their third fixture at Edgbaston, as Mohammad Rizwan is expected to get dropped for the contest.

Even though the visiting bowlers were excellent against the England batters throughout the series, bringing them back into the game at various stages, the concern has been around their batting department. In the four innings so far in the series, they have not crossed 200.

Rizwan and Imam-ul-Haq reportedly sent home as new players called up for Birmingham Test

According to the reports, Pakistan’s white-ball coach, Mike Hesson, is expected to take charge of the Test team for the third and final game of the series. He would oversee the proceedings of the game, starting on September 09 in Birmingham. Hesson would travel to the UK along with the director of their high performance, Aqib Javed.

“According to sources, the head coach of the white-ball team, Mike Hesson, initially arrived in London for a dinner with Shahzad along with Director of High Performance, Aqib Javed. He is now reportedly being handed over to him in charge of the Test team after the national team's 194-run defeat in the Lord's Test.” The report revealed.

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Apart from that, Mohammad Rizwan and Imam-ul-Haq are also set to be sent back home. The former has struggled in the four innings he batted, for his 61 runs at an average of 15.50, while in the previous series against the West Indies, he collected only 41 runs in three innings. 

Imam, meanwhile, has been advised 10 days of rest after he picked up an injury that ruled him out of batting chances in both innings of the Lord’s Test. In their place, Saim Ayub and Arafat Minhas are expected to be included in the squad. Ayub, who recently celebrated his century in the CPL 2026, played his last Test more than 18 months ago.

Innings defeat at Headingley to a 194-run loss at Lord's — How Pakistan's batting collapsed twice in a row

During the first Test of the series at Leeds, Pakistan lost their opener Azan Awais on the very first ball and were rolled over for just 171 runs on the board. Abdullah Shafique was the only batter of the side to celebrate a fine half-century under pressure before the hosts posted a huge score of 409 runs.

See Also: Twitter reactions: Mohammad Rizwan dismissed for 1 in Pakistan's second innings vs England at Lord's

In the second innings of the game, Pakistan were blown away for 135 runs and ended up losing the encounter by an innings and 103 runs. Babar Azam’s return for Lord’s Test was anticipated to make a massive change in their confidence.

However, they could get only 110 runs in their first innings in reply to England’s 290 in the first innings and were bowled out for 194 in the fourth innings to earn the defeat by 194 runs and are behind in the three-match series by a 2-0 margin.