ENG vs PAK: Big blow for Pakistan ahead of Headingley Test as Babar Azam ruled out; Salman Ali Agha steps in as captain

In a big blow for Pakistan ahead of the first Test against England at Headingley starting Wednesday, Babar Azam has been ruled out due to injury. Babar has been unable to recover in time from an injury to his right hand after being struck during Pakistan's warm-up game against a County Select XI, which happened last week.

It is the same hand he was struck on during the second Test against the West Indies earlier this month. "Pakistan captain Babar Azam is unavailable for the first Test match," Pakistan coach Sarfaraz Ahmed said Tuesday. "Salman Ali Agha will be the captain for the first Test."

The match at Headingley is the first of a three-Test series. Pakistan are coming into this series after playing a 1-1 draw against West Indies. It was in the Caribbean Babar returned in his second stint as Pakistan captain.

Both England and Pakistan are in the bottom half of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 cycle. After six outings in WTC 2025-2, Pakistan have won two Tests and lost four, and have a 22.22 PCT.

England, on the other hand, are seventh in the standings and have won only four of the 13 Tests they have played in this cycle. England were last in action during the home series against New Zealand, which the visitors sealed 2-1.

Fresh start for England after Bazball era

Meanwhile, England will have a fresh start under new captain Joe Root after the exits of Bazball architects Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. Stokes dramatically announced his retirement from international cricket during the third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge in June.

A few days later, McCullum was sacked as England's Test coach following the team's seventh red-ball loss in nine matches, although he remains in charge of the white-ball sides. New Test coach Stephen Fleming will not take over until the tour of South Africa later this year.

Like Babar, Root was reappointed when England decided against having white-ball captain Harry Brook lead the country in all three international formats.

England vs Pakistan 2026 Tests schedule

England vs Pakistan 2026 Test squads

England: Joe Root (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Emilio Gay, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Sam Cook, Matthew Fisher, Ollie Robinson, Shoaib Bashir, Josh Tongue.

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Ghazi Ghori (wk), Awais Zafar, Azan Awais, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Abdullah Fazal, Aamer Jamel, Salman Ali Agha, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Sajid Khan, Ubaid Shah, Ali Usman