India, Sept. 8 -- Pakistan cricket has rarely arrived at a Test match with this much happening away from the field. Two crushing defeats against England, seven players sent home midway through the tour, the head coach and his assistant removed, and now a PCB disciplinary inquiry have turned the build-up to the third Test at Edgbaston into something far bigger than simply avoiding a 3-0 whitewash.

England won the opening Test at Headingley by an innings and 103 runs before hammering Pakistan by 194 runs at Lord's to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. What followed was an extraordinary overhaul, with seven players released from the touring squad and Sarfaraz Ahmed and Umar Gul replaced on the coaching staff by Mike He...