Interim Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson said his players are used to “chaos” after the tourists dropped seven players and called up seven others for the final Test against England.
Pakistan have been woeful in losing the first two Tests, and responded by making sweeping changes to the squad as well as replacing head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed with New Zealander Hesson.
Hesson, Pakistan’s white-ball coach, had recently been in Japan preparing for the Asian Games and was only due to travel to the UK for the squad’s audience with King Charles, which took place on Wednesday.
Now, Hesson has been placed in charge of the Test team on a temporary basis for the third Test at Edgbaston, beginning on Wednesday, 9 September (11:00 BST).
“I was heading over to see the King and be part of a nice occasion,” said Hesson. “That got expedited.
“The last couple of days have been challenging for being in a hotel with some players coming, some players going and then the arrival of everyone.
“The guys are probably more used to a little bit of chaos than I am. There’s no doubt they have been disappointed, incredibly disappointed.
“We’ve had to park that and go ‘righto, where to from here?’ They’ve been really good over the past couple of days.”
Hesson was able to explain the process for the squad changes. The three most senior players dropped – batters Imam-ul-Haq and Salman Ali Agha, along with wicketkeeper Muhammad Rizwan – were removed from the party before the former New Zealand coach took over.
Hesson said he then looked at the bowling attack and made changes based on what he believed is required for the conditions at Edgbaston.
Spinner Ali Usman and seamer Khurram Shahzad have both been released after playing in the first two Tests. Neither Aamir Jamal nor Muhammad Awais Jafar have featured on the tour, yet have still been let go.
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