Heavy defeats at Headingley and Lord's were met with sweeping changes by the Pakistan Cricket Board, who reacted by sending seven players home as well as removing head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and his assistant Umar Gul from their positions.
A raft of replacements were summoned, including five with no Test experience, while white-ball coaches New Zealander Mike Hesson and Australian Ashley Noffke were drafted in to take charge at Edgbaston this week.
Addressing the remarkable sequence of events for the first time on the eve of the third Test, Babar admitted decisions had been taken without his knowledge but attempted to frame it as a fresh chance for those still in Birmingham.
Speaking in Urdu, he said: "It was news to me. I found out after. The PCB decided it, so they will be able to explain better.
"The PCB's decision must have been taken after some thought process. It's better if you ask them why. It's an opportunity for us as a group and a team. The series is lost but we have nothing to lose. We should play freely and believe in ourselves as a team.
"It's an opportunity for the new boys and a chance to showcase their talent. Any young player who comes in is excited, and that excitement is visible. I believe that will be visible in the match, too.
"I firmly believe you need to grab opportunities and perform in difficult conditions. That's why we play cricket, because we have to perform and dominate in difficult conditions. We need to forget about past failures and shift focus to the future."
Babar offered nothing further on the internal inquiry into "discipline and conduct" which was announced by the board on Tuesday, adding in English: "No, I don't know. I have no idea about it."
England captain Joe Root defended Pakistan's performances, dismissing suggestions they had been "defeatist".
"I think that's a bit disrespectful to both Pakistan and to us. I don't think we've allowed them to get into games because of how well we've played and how quickly we've read the situations and the surfaces that we've had.
"It's very easy to say one team is excellent and one team is poor. Normally it's somewhere in the middle. If one team has been outstanding then the other team can't have been poor and vice versa."
Meanwhile, former Pakistan all-rounder Wasim Akram renewed calls for "fair treatment" for his one-time captain and ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Akram, appearing on the 'Old Boys, New Balls' podcast co-hosted by former England captain Ian Botham, said: "I feel for skipper, I miss him as a friend, I miss him as a mentor, we miss him as a leader. We haven't seen his picture for three years.
"What we want from this government is to give him the fair treatment, like other politicians had before.
"Fingers are crossed, Inshallah the whole nation is behind him and he'll be out (soon)."
England (probable): B Duckett, E Gay, J Cox, J Root (capt), H Brook, D Lawrence, J Smith (wk), G Atkinson, O Robinson, J Archer, J Tongue.
Pakistan (probable): S Ayub, A Awais, S Masood, A Shafique, B Azam (capt), S Shakeel, G Ghori (wk), M Ali, Razaullah, U Shah, M Abbas.
