LEEDS: Pakistan will begin their bid for a first Test series win in England in 30 years without captain and leading batter Babar Azam, while the hosts enter the three-match contest under a new leadership regime when the opening Test starts at Headingley on Wednesday.
Babar has been ruled out of the first Test after failing to recover from a right-hand injury sustained during Pakistan’s warm-up against a County Select XI last week. The 31-year-old was struck on the same hand during the second Test against the West Indies earlier this month and was hit again by England Under-19 paceman Manny Lumsden in Canterbury.
Although scans have ruled out a fracture to his middle finger, Babar has continued to experience pain and swelling and was not considered fit to play or captain Pakistan in Leeds.
“Babar Azam is not available, Salman [Ali Agha] will be captain for the first Test,” head coach Sarfraz Ahmed told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s not broken, there is a little bit of swelling on the finger. Hopefully he will be available for the second Test match.”
Salman, who has led Pakistan in white-ball cricket, will captain the side in a Test for the first time. Saud Shakeel is in line to return to the middle order after missing the two-Test series in the West Indies, which Pakistan drew 1-1.
Babar’s absence leaves Pakistan without a batter who has scored nine Test centuries and averages 43.68, and comes at a particularly significant juncture after he returned to the Test captaincy in July.
Pakistan did win their two most recent Tests against England, both in 2024, but those victories came on spin-friendly home pitches in Multan and Rawalpindi. The conditions at Headingley are expected to present a considerably different challenge, with overcast weather and a surface likely to offer assistance to seam bowling.
Pakistan, however, arrive with some confidence after winning their warm-up match against the County Select XI.
“Everything that we needed to cover, we covered as a bowling unit and as a batting unit,” Sarfraz said. “We won that match as well, so the confidence is very high and the spirit is very high.”
The visitors will have to decide whether to strengthen their pace attack in conditions that could favour seamers or include a specialist spinner. Mohammad Abbas, whose experience of English conditions includes a spell in county cricket, is expected to be central to Pakistan’s plans.
“Definitely Abbas’ experience here and the way he has played league cricket here, he will be one of our main bowlers on this tour,” Sarfraz said.
The batting, meanwhile, will be under scrutiny. Pakistan have struggled for consistency in the lower and middle order, although Saud’s century in the warm-up has given the team management encouragement.
“Saud has scored 100 here, so his form is very good,” Sarfraz said. “He is looking in good rhythm, so I expect our middle order also to perform well.”
England, meanwhile, begin a new chapter after a turbulent period in Test cricket. Joe Root has returned as full-time captain following Ben Stokes’ retirement from international cricket, while Brendon McCullum was removed as Test coach after England suffered seven defeats in nine red-ball matches.
The changes have inevitably raised questions over whether England will move away from the ultra-attacking style associated with Stokes and McCullum.
Root, however, does not intend to abandon the principles that transformed England’s approach to Test cricket.
“I don’t think there’s a huge amount we need to change,” Root said on Tuesday. “It’s small things that will make a big difference.
“It’s not about ripping it up. It’s about keeping a lot of the good stuff we’ve been doing for a period of time, stuff that Ben and Baz built for a long while.”
The 35-year-old also stressed that adaptability, rather than a rigid philosophy, would be central to his second stint as captain.
“I don’t believe there is one way of playing Test cricket,” he said. “You’ve got to be adaptable and play the situation. It’s never the same throughout five days, there are different challenges and you’ve got to adjust to the ebbs and flows.”
Root’s first stint as England captain lasted five years and eventually left him drained, but he believes his time away from leadership has prepared him better for the responsibility this time around.
“I’m in a very fortunate, unique position where I’ve got 60-odd games of experience to look back on,” he said. “I had time to step away, play in a different environment, different coach, different captain, and see the game from a different lens.”
For Pakistan, the immediate challenge is to cope without Babar while making the most of conditions that could allow their experienced seam attack to dictate the early exchanges.
For England, the series offers an opportunity to reset after a difficult period and establish what their Test cricket will look like without Stokes and McCullum.
And with both teams confronting uncertainty of different kinds, the opening Test at Headingley could provide an early indication of whether Pakistan’s pace attack can exploit England’s transition — and whether Root’s version of leadership can revive a side that has lost its way.
Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2026
