Babar Azam says he is 90% fit and will play in Lord's Test
Pakistan captain Babar Azam declared himself “90%” fit and confirmed he will play in the second Test against England at Lord's on Thursday after missing the series opener with a finger injury. He made the announcement at a Wednesday press conference and has returned to training ahead of the match.
Babar was absent for the first Test at Headingley, where England won by an innings and 103 runs inside three days, and Pakistan's batting subsequently collapsed. He described his recovery as sufficient to return and said the squad had reviewed the Headingley defeat, adding that they would move on to the next game.
The captain’s personal record in England was noted as a positive: he averages 65.75 in the country and 53.83 in 14 Test innings against England. Babar also conceded Pakistan had been “not playing up to the mark, the way the England team is playing,” and said, “But after that, we sat together and discussed our mistakes. And we just forget those things and look forward to tomorrow's match.”
Pakistan’s coaching staff have kept his workload cautious while assessing the hand. Fast bowling coach Umar Gul said Babar faced pace in the nets on Tuesday but most of his batting work had been against throwdowns; after the press conference he again faced throwdowns and some spin but did not face any fast bowling. England were also expected to go into the Lord's Test without a specialist spinner.
The scale of Pakistan’s Headingley collapse was underlined by their first-innings total of 171, which the article describes as their lowest first-innings Test score in a decade. The final eight wickets fell for only 64 runs after Imam ul Haq and Abdullah Shafique had put on a 91-run partnership, and neither batter was able to convert the start into a substantial individual score.
Babar said the remedy was collective rather than individual, instructing his side to improve across disciplines. “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.” He also warned, “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.”
His return is set to alter the batting lineup, with Abdullah Shafique expected to remain in his current slot rather than move up to open. Shafique has scored 260 runs at an average of 130 in his last four innings, and Babar said, “The number Abdullah is batting, he should [continue to] play there. He's batted three and four since his comeback. He's got confidence there so he'll continue there.” Azan Awais is expected to make way to accommodate Babar's return.
The second Test at Lord's also carries particular significance for Babar personally: he will lead Pakistan out in England for the first time and will become the 15th Pakistan captain to lead the team at Lord's. “When you lead the Pakistan side on this ground, it's an honour,” he said. “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.”
