{"id":131958,"date":"2026-08-26T21:39:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T16:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=131958"},"modified":"2026-08-26T21:39:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T16:39:57","slug":"pakistan-captain-babar-azam-returns-against-england-90pc-fit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/131958\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan captain Babar Azam returns against England &#8217;90pc fit&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lords(National Times)- Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Wednesday said he is \u201c90 per cent fit\u201d as he returns to lead his country in the second Test against England at Lord\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Azam&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2023682\">missed<\/a>&nbsp;last week\u2019s series opener at Headingley because of a finger injury, with the tourists&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2024383\">thrashed<\/a>&nbsp;by an innings and 103 runs in his absence as England went 1-0 up in a three-match campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 31-year-old Azam was hit on the glove while batting during a warm-up match, compounding a finger injury initially sustained during Pakistan\u2019s recent tour of the West Indies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But he has been back batting in the nets during the past 48 hours and the experienced batsman is now set to strengthen a Pakistan side dismissed for just 171 and 135 in Leeds when the second Test gets underway on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ve had a couple of practice sessions again, and I\u2019m 90 per cent fit for the match tomorrow,\u201d Azam told a pre-match press conference at Lord\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAlways when you lead the Pakistan team, especially at this ground, it is an honour for me and I will do my best. If it is on the field as captain or when I\u2019m batting, I will just play my game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He added: \u201cI think we were not playing up to our mark [in the first Test], but credit to England for the way they are playing. After that we sat to discuss our mistakes and now we are looking forward to the match, believing in ourselves and we will try to play good cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Azam was Pakistan\u2019s top run-scorer in the West Indies, with 193 runs during a drawn two-Test series. He has also enjoyed success in England, with three fifties in six innings while averaging 65.75.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Azan Awais may make way if Azam returns at number four, with either Shan Masood or Abdullah Shafique moving up the order to open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pakistan could also make changes to their bowling line-up as well this week, with 20-year-old Ubaid Shah able to provide extra speed to an attack lacking in sheer pace in Leeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That would leave Khurram Shahzad and Mohammad Ali vying for one place, with Mohammad Abbas the most reliable of Pakistan\u2019s pacemen at Headingley and left-arm spinner Ali Usman fresh from his maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lords(National Times)- Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Wednesday said he is \u201c90 per cent fit\u201d as he returns to lead his country in the second Test against England at Lord\u2019s. Azam&nbsp;missed&nbsp;last week\u2019s series opener at Headingley because of a finger injury, with the tourists&nbsp;thrashed&nbsp;by an innings and 103 runs in his absence as England went [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pakistan captain Babar Azam returns against England &#039;90pc fit&#039; - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/131958\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pakistan captain Babar Azam returns against England &#039;90pc fit&#039; - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lords(National Times)- Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Wednesday said he is \u201c90 per cent fit\u201d as he returns to lead his country in the second Test against England at Lord\u2019s. Azam&nbsp;missed&nbsp;last week\u2019s series opener at Headingley because of a finger injury, with the tourists&nbsp;thrashed&nbsp;by an innings and 103 runs in his absence as England went [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/131958\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-26T16:39:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-26T16:39:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Untitled-design-17-10.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/131958\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/131958\/\",\"name\":\"Pakistan captain Babar Azam returns against England '90pc fit' - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/131958\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/131958\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Untitled-design-17-10.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-26T16:39:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-26T16:39:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/131958\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/131958\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/131958\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Untitled-design-17-10.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Untitled-design-17-10.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/131958\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pakistan captain Babar Azam returns against England &#8217;90pc fit&#8217;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pakistan captain Babar Azam returns against England '90pc fit' - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/131958\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pakistan captain Babar Azam returns against England '90pc fit' - Nation","og_description":"Lords(National Times)- Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Wednesday said he is \u201c90 per cent fit\u201d as he returns to lead his country in the second Test against England at Lord\u2019s. 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