Why Misbah-ul-Haq Resigned From Pakistan’s Selection Committee

Misbah-ul-Haq has resigned from Pakistan’s national selection committee. The move comes a day after the PCB announced major Pakistan Test squad changes, releasing seven players and two coaches ahead of the Birmingham Test.

Reports say Misbah was not consulted before the squad was overhauled. He has also stepped down as batting consultant at the National Cricket Academy. PCB has not confirmed whether the resignation has been formally accepted.

Why did Misbah-ul-Haq resign?

Two things happened in quick succession, and together they explain the resignation.

First, on August 31, PCB issued a show-cause notice to its selection committee. It sought a written explanation for selecting Mohammad Rizwan and Imam-ul-Haq for the West Indies and England tours. The committee, which includes Misbah, Aaqib Javed, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Asad Shafiq, was given 24 hours to respond.

The same day, PCB released seven players from the Test squad, Rizwan and Imam-ul-Haq among them, and sacked head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul. Reports say Misbah found out about the squad changes without being part of the decision.

He resigned the next day. PCB has not officially linked the two events, but the sequence, a notice demanding answers followed almost immediately by a squad overhaul he wasn’t consulted on, is what former players and reporters are pointing to.

Why did PCB demand answers from the selection committee?

The show-cause notice asked the committee to explain the “basis and rationale” for selecting Rizwan and Imam-ul-Haq, tying it to a selection meeting held back in June. It came after Pakistan’s back-to-back Test losses in England, an innings defeat at Headingley followed by a 194-run loss at Lord’s, which put the series out of reach at 2-0.

Rizwan had actually been Pakistan’s leading Test run-scorer since 2024. Imam had played just two Tests in that span but had strong domestic numbers. So the notice wasn’t about weak stats on paper. It reads more like PCB using the poor series result to question the entire selection process, not just these two picks.

Misbah’s timeline in Pakistan cricket

Misbah hasn’t been an outsider brought in for one job. He’s cycled through the board for years:

• 2017: Retires from international cricket as Pakistan’s most successful Test captain.
• 2019: Appointed head coach and chief selector.
• 2020: Steps back from chief selector role to focus on coaching.
• 2021: Leaves the head coach role.
• 2023: Returns as an advisor under the PCB’s ad-hoc management setup.
• 2024: Named a mentor for the now-scrapped Champions Cup.
• March 2026: Joins the four-member selection committee.
• September 2026: Resigns from selection committee and NCA role.

That’s why this resignation carries weight. He kept getting pulled back into senior roles under different PCB leaderships. As a player, he retired with 75 Tests, 5,222 runs, 10 centuries, and took Pakistan to No. 1 in the ICC Test rankings in 2016.

What former players are saying

Reaction has been sharp. Kevin Pietersen questioned how a touring squad could lose so many players mid-series. Mickey Arthur called it constant chopping and changing. Ramiz Raja described it as PCB hitting the panic button. Rashid Latif said the real problem is a pattern of instability that goes well beyond this one squad. These are opinions, not confirmation that PCB got the call wrong.

What happens next

PCB hasn’t said whether Misbah’s resignation is final or whether he’ll serve a notice period. Pakistan play the third Test at Edgbaston from September 9, already 2-0 down, with a new coaching pair in Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke and a selection committee now short one member.

FAQs

Why did Misbah-ul-Haq resign from PCB? Reports say he wasn’t consulted before PCB overhauled the Test squad, a day after the board issued a show-cause notice to the selection committee.

Has PCB accepted his resignation? Not confirmed publicly yet.

Why did PCB send a show-cause notice to selectors? To seek a written explanation for selecting Rizwan and Imam-ul-Haq, issued right after Pakistan went 2-0 down in the series.

What roles has Misbah held at PCB since 2017? Head coach, chief selector, advisor, Champions Cup mentor, and most recently national selector.