Interim Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson addresses squad chaos after seven changes ahead of third England Test

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.

Into the squad have come batters Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal, both possessing previous Test experience.

Five uncapped players have also been called up: spin-bowling all-rounder Arafat Minhas, left-arm seamer Mohammed Imran Jr, wicketkeeper Said Baig and all-rounders Mohammad Imran and Razaullah.

"When I took over, three players had already left the squad – Rizwan, Imam and Salman Ali Agha," said Hesson. "From there it was a matter of trying to get a balanced squad for the third Test.

"I don't think anyone wants these to happen in the middle of a series, clearly not.

"From my perspective, it's about putting a balanced squad together, not only for this Test, so we actually have some variety in our attack.

"Pakistan is known for the pace, unusual actions, mystery spin – we haven't really been able to present any of that."

On Friday, Pakistan trained at the indoor centre at Edgbaston because of wet weather in Birmingham. Four of the new arrivals trained with the squad, with three more due to link up later in the day.

Hesson also hit back at reports that Salman refused to attend the meeting with King Charles after being dropped.

Salman, Pakistan's T20 captain under Hesson, led the Test side in the series opener at Headingley because of an injury to Babar Azam, then was left out of the XI for the second Test before being omitted from the squad entirely.

Hesson said Salman did not attend the audience with the King because he was part of the trio of players dropped from the squad first and, as a result, Salman, Imam and Rizwan were taken from the list of attendees to Clarence House.

A Pakistan official then confirmed that the four players dropped after Hesson's arrival were still able to meet the King.

"I know there's been a void in news, but people are just making up stories," said Hesson.

"Three players were released from the squad before I arrived and well before [meeting the King]. They were sent a note at the time that these three players will not be attending.

"Someone has just made something up. All of the rest of the players in the squad were already on the list. I was on the list as the white-ball head coach. There has been no changes to it.

"Someone has put two and two together and come up with nine. For me, that's unacceptable journalism."