A hand injury has ruled Babar Azam out of the England Test opener, and Pakistan aren’t bringing in a direct replacement. Shan Masood slots back to the top of the order instead, with Salman Ali Agha taking over the captaincy for a series he’s never led before in the format. The knock came in a Beckenham warm-up game, on the same hand hurt earlier this month against West Indies, and scans have ruled out a fracture even as swelling kept him out of the XI.
Pakistan Confirm the Reason for Withdrawal
Babar was struck on the right hand during Pakistan’s three-day warm-up match against a Professional County Club Select XI in Beckenham, the blow arriving off the final delivery of the 39th over from England Under-19 pacer Manny Lumsden. It was the same hand that took a hit during the second Test against West Indies earlier this month, the second time in a matter of weeks his batting hand has taken a blow of real consequence.
Scans and X-rays afterward ruled out a fracture of the middle finger, but ongoing pain and swelling left him short of fit to bat, let alone captain the side going into a five-day match. Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed confirmed the decision directly, making clear Babar wouldn’t play the opener and that Salman would lead the team in his place, with the timing especially awkward given the warm-up game was meant to be a final tune-up.
Babar Azam Injury Batting Order England Test
Pakistan haven’t added a specialist batter to the squad to cover the gap, choosing to trust the depth already in the touring party. Shan Masood, only recently back after recovering from his own finger fracture, returns to open and anchor the top of the innings in Babar’s absence.
Saud Shakeel is expected to fill a middle-order slot, giving the top six a settled look despite the late change forced on the team just days out from the opener at a venue England knows well. Aamer Jamal remains an option for batting depth further down, the same role he was given in the first Test against West Indies, though he had little impact with either bat or ball that time out.
Replacements Take Shape Without Fanfare
Pakistan’s recent record when missing their senior batter isn’t encouraging, though the sample size is small. They lost by 104 runs in Dhaka back in May, a Test where a separate left knee issue kept him out before a ball was bowled and the top order never recovered across either innings, bowled out for 386 and then 163 chasing a target built on Bangladesh’s first-innings 413 and a declared second-innings 240 for nine.
There isn’t a published team batting average specifically for matches Babar has missed, so drawing a firm conclusion from one bad Test in Dhaka is a stretch this early. For context only, his own average during Masood’s captaincy stretch sits at 27.26 with no century since 2022, a separate issue from how the team performs without him in the side, not proof either way about how Thursday’s opener plays out for the batting order as a whole.
Salman Agha Steps Into New Territory
Salman has never captained Pakistan in a Test or an ODI before this week, which makes Thursday’s opener his debut leading the side in the format that matters most to the dressing room. His T20I record offers the closest comparison: 33 matches and 19 wins by the most recent count, built on series wins over Zimbabwe away, Bangladesh at home, and West Indies away by a 2-1 margin, alongside tougher stretches that included a whitewash loss to Australia, a series defeat to New Zealand, and a runner-up finish at the 2025 Asia Cup after losing the final.
His only prior captaincy experience came with Southern Punjab in the 2022 National T20 Cup, 10 matches and just four wins, with the team finishing last in that competition’s points table. That gap between a mixed white-ball leadership record and a red-ball debut is exactly what makes the Babar Azam injury batting order England Test storyline bigger than one absent name, since Pakistan are testing a new leader and a reshuffled top order in the same match against a full-strength England side.