England vs Pakistan 1st Test Predicted 11: Babar Azam OUT, Saud Shakeel, Dan Lawrence IN, Salman Ali Agha will be…
Pakistan will be missing the services of Babar Azam for the 1st Test vs England and will be led by Salman Ali Agha at Leeds from Wednesday.
Salman Ali Agha (right) will replace Babar Azam as captain for 1st Test vs England at Leeds. (Source: X)
ENG vs PAK 2026 1st Test: Pakistan cricket team have already suffered a big blow even before their three-match Test series against England can get underway at Headingley at Leeds on Wednesday. The visitors will be missing the services of their skipper Babar Azam, who has been ruled out of the first Test after injuring his hand in the side's warm-up game at Beckenham last week.
All-rounder Salman Ali Agha will be leading the side in the absence of Babar Azam in the first Test. "Pakistan captain Babar Azam is unavailable for the first Test match. Salman Agha will be the captain for the first Test," Pakistan head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed said in the pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
Sarfaraz confirmed that Babar Azam didn't have any fracture in his hand and should be available to lead in the second Test. "The medical team is assessing Babar. He has quite a bit of pain in the finger. There are still a few days to go before the second Test. Hopefully, he will recover by then," Sarfaraz said.
Babar Azam will be replaced by experience batter Saud Shakeel in the middle order, who scored a century in the warm-up game. Pakistan will be boosted by the return of former skipper Shan Masood from finger injury. Masood had missed the second Test vs West Indies after scoring a century in the first Test but fracturing his finger.
The visiting side are likely to stick with Aamer Jamal, Mohammad Abbas and Mohammad Ali as the three seam bowlers with Ali Usman and skipper Salman Ali Agha's slow bowling.
England, on the other hand, have picked in-form Dan Lawrence as all-rounder to replace former skipper Ben Stokes. The hosts are waiting to see how pacers Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue pull up before the toss.
They will miss young batter Jacob Bethell at the No. 3 position for the first two games due to injury and he will be replaced by Royal Challengers Bengaluru teammate Jordan Cox. "It is a very talented group of players that are very capable of special things. I am really excited about where we can take this team," Root told Sky Sports.
England vs Pakistan 2026 1st Test match Predicted 11
England: Emilio Gay, Ben Duckett, Jordan Cox, Joe Root (c), Harry Brook, Dan Lawrence, Jamie Smith (wk), Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Ollie Robinson, Josh Tongue
Pakistan: Azan Awais, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood, Saud Shakeel, Salman Agha (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Aamer Jamal/Khurram Shahzad, Ali Usman, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali
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