He’s back in the XI, and Pakistan have rebuilt their top order around him rather than easing him back in gently. Ninety percent fit was enough for the captain and team management to trust him at number five, with Abdullah Shafique staying put at four and Salman Agha making way entirely. It’s a bet that his batting class outweighs the risk on a finger that’s already been struck twice this month, and Pakistan needed exactly that kind of statement after Headingley.
Ninety Percent Clears Him To Bat
He said as much himself after practice at Lord’s on Wednesday, describing a couple of solid sessions that left him satisfied enough to play the following day. He’d already tested the finger in Headingley nets a week earlier and wasn’t declared fit then, so this clearance carries real weight.
Leading the side at this ground means something to him personally, and he was clear that the first Test defeat is being left behind rather than dissected further. His message to teammates was pointed too: senior batters need to stop the collapses that cost Pakistan the opener, rather than waiting for someone else to fix it.
Training continued even after the update, with another session squeezed in the same day he spoke to reporters. Leading Pakistan on this particular ground, he added, is always an honour, and he intends to simply focus on his own game whether that means captaining or contributing with the bat.
Babar Azam Lord’s Test fitness 2026
The finger problem started during the West Indies series in August, then flared up again when a throwdown from an England Under-19 quick caught him in the same spot during a Beckenham warm-up. He retired hurt in that innings for just five runs off seventeen balls, and the team was cautious enough to rest him through the rest of that game as a precaution.
Coach Sarfaraz Ahmed confirmed before the first Test that he’d miss Headingley entirely, handing Salman Agha his first Test captaincy for that match. Two days out from Lord’s, he was back in the indoor nets facing pace and spin with what teammates described as full intent, and that session became the clearest early sign this comeback was on track.
A Second Blow To The Hand
What makes this recovery notable is that it’s the same hand copping contact for the second time in a month. Most players in that situation would take the conservative route and sit out another match, but Pakistan’s batting has been thin enough that the calculation tilted the other way.
Headingley showed exactly why. Pakistan folded for 171 and then 135, losing by an innings and 103 runs, with only Abdullah Shafique’s first-innings half-century offering any real resistance. Azan Awais fell for a first-ball duck in that Test and managed only nine in the second innings, scores that summed up how little support Shafique got at the top.
Bringing back the senior batter, even carrying some risk, was always going to beat running the same fragile order back unchanged for a second match in a row.
The XI Pakistan Settled On
The confirmed Lord’s XI keeps Imam-ul-Haq and Azan Awais opening, with Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique unmoved at three and four. Mohammad Rizwan retains the gloves despite speculation he might be rested, and the frontline bowling attack of Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ali and Mohammad Abbas stays intact from Headingley.
Salman Agha drops out entirely rather than shifting into a specialist batting slot, which tells you this was framed as a straight swap rather than a reshuffle. The captain confirmed he had no intention of disturbing Shafique, who top scored in the first Test and deserved to keep his spot regardless of who else came back in.
His England record in Tests backs the decision: an average of 65 across six previous innings on these shores, with three half-centuries, plus a wider average of 53.83 against England overall. He also arrives on the back of 193 runs at 96.50 against West Indies earlier this year, so the returning captain is not short on recent form. The Babar Azam Lord’s Test fitness 2026 storyline now shifts from whether he plays to whether the finger holds up for five full days.
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