Babar Azam Confirmed Fit, to Captain Pakistan in Second Test at Lord’s

Pakistan captain Babar Azam is set to lead his team at Lord’s after making a sufficient recovery from a hand injury. In a pre-match press conference, he expressed confidence, stating he was “90% fit” and comfortable ahead of the second Test. “I had a couple of practice sessions,” Babar said. “I’m 90% fit for tomorrow and the rest of the series.”

While Pakistan’s fast-bowling coach Umar Gul confirmed that Babar faced pace in the nets on Tuesday, the majority of his batting drills involved throwdowns. Following the press conference on Wednesday, Babar continued with throwdowns and some spin bowling in the nets, but notably, no fast bowling. England is not fielding a specialist spinner at Lord’s.

Regardless, Babar’s participation is a crucial boost for Pakistan’s batting, though it’s not sufficient on its own. He admitted that the team was “not up to the mark” in any aspect during their three-day defeat at Headingley, emphasizing that the batting collapses were a collective responsibility. “You need to produce complete team performances,” he said. “You have to bowl and bat in partnerships. And you have to take it deep as a batter if you’re set. If you’re set, it’s a little easier. For a new batter, it’s a little bit difficult to build partnerships.”

Pakistan learned this the hard way in the first Test. Their only significant partnership was between Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique, who put on 91 runs after weathering early attacks. However, neither could capitalize on their starts, and once the partnership ended, the team collapsed. The last eight wickets fell for just 64 runs, as Pakistan slumped from 97 for 2 to all out for 171, their lowest first-innings score in a decade.

Babar’s return is expected to strengthen the middle order, which has struggled under pressure recently. Abdullah Shafique, who has been a bright spot for Pakistan’s batting lately, is likely to bat alongside Babar instead of being promoted to open the innings. Azan Awais is expected to be dropped, but Babar made it clear that he doesn’t want Shafique’s position altered, as he has been in good form, scoring 260 runs at an average of 130 in his last four innings. “The number Abdullah is batting, he should continue to play there,” he said. “He’s batted three and four since his comeback. He’s got confidence there so he’ll continue there. We need to stamp out the back-to-back wickets we lose. The senior batters need to be more focused and make up for it.”

This will be the first time Babar leads Pakistan in England during his third tour of the country. He was appointed captain right after Pakistan’s last tour in 2020, and he will become the 15th Pakistani captain to lead a team at Lord’s. “When you lead the Pakistan side on this ground, it’s an honour,” Babar remarked. “I do my best on the field as captain and when I’m batting, I just play my game. Our stats here are good and we’d like to continue that. We will forget about the first Test and are looking forward to this one.”

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