Babar Azam declares himself 90 percent fit, confirms availability for Lord's Test

Pakistan captain Babar Azam has confirmed his availability for the second Test against England at Lord's starting Thursday, despite not having fully recovered from a finger injury.Babar Azam retired hurt after being hit on his right hand. (Photo: Reuters)Pakistan captain Babar Azam is set to return to the side for the second Test against England at Lord's on Thursday, although he admits he is not yet fully recovered from the finger injury that kept him out of the series opener.Babar missed the first Test at Headingley, where England completed a commanding innings and 103-run victory inside three days. The Pakistan captain has since returned to training and believes he is fit enough to play at Lord's."Yes, 90% I'm fit for tomorrow's match," Babar said during a press conference on Wednesday.His return is a timely boost for Pakistan, particularly after their batting collapsed in the first Test. Babar has an impressive record in England, averaging 65.75 in the country, while he has scored at an average of 53.83 in 14 Test innings against England. Babar admitted Pakistan were well below their best at Headingley and said the team had spent time reviewing what went wrong."We're not playing up to the mark, the way the England team is playing," he said. "But after that, we sat together and discussed our mistakes."And we just forget those things and look forward to tomorrow's match."Babar has had limited opportunities to test the injured hand against a full pace attack during training. Pakistan fast bowling coach Umar Gul said the captain faced pace in the nets on Tuesday, but most of his batting work has come against throwdowns.He again faced throwdowns and some spin after Wednesday's press conference, although he did not face any fast bowling. England are also expected to go into the Lord's Test without a specialist spinner.Babar's return should give Pakistan's middle order greater experience, but the captain knows his presence alone will not fix the problems that contributed to the heavy defeat at Headingley.Pakistan were bowled out for 171 in their first innings, their lowest first innings Test score in a decade. Their final eight wickets fell for only 64 runs after Imam ul Haq and Abdullah Shafique had put together a promising 91 run partnership.Neither batter was able to turn a solid start into a substantial score, and once the partnership ended, Pakistan's innings quickly fell apart.Babar believes the solution lies in the team producing better all round performances rather than relying on individuals."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."The captain also stressed the need for Pakistan's senior batters to take greater responsibility when they get themselves in."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," he said.Babar's return is also expected to bring a change to Pakistan's batting order. Abdullah Shafique, who has been one of the team's most consistent batters recently, is expected to retain his current position rather than move up to open.Shafique has scored 260 runs at an average of 130 in his last four innings, and Babar said there was little reason to disrupt a batter who has developed confidence in his current position."The number Abdullah is batting, he should [continue to] play there," Babar said. "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 will have added significance for Babar, who is preparing to lead Pakistan out in England for the first time. This is his third tour of the country, while his first appointment as Pakistan captain came immediately after the team's previous tour of England in 2020.He 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," Babar 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."- EndsPublished By: Saurabh KumarPublished On: Aug 26, 2026 20:54 IST