Salman Agha stand-in captain; Babar Azam to miss first test against England

LAHORE, Aug 18 (APP):Heandingley:

Pakistan captain Babar Azam has been ruled out of the first test match against England in Headingley on August 19 (Wednesday) while Salman Ali Agha will be stand-in captain in the absence of Babar Azam.

Babar Azam could not recover from the injury to his right hand he sustained during the warm-up game in Beckenham. It is the same hand he was hit on during the second test match against West Indies early this month.

In the pre-match press conference at Headingley, Pakistan Head Coach Sarfraz Ahmed said, “For now, the medical team has informed that Babar Azam is experiencing a little more pain. So hopefully, God-willing, he will be available by the second test. We still have seven or eight days to work on Babar’s recovery.”

He further elaborated that Babar was not nursing a broken finger rather there was a little swelling on his finger and, hopefully, he will be available for the second Test match.

On Shan Masood’s fitness concerns, the head coach told the media that the top-order had fully recovered and was available for the match.

On strategy for the Heandingley match, Sarfraz said the win in the side match had given them the confidence and the self-belief to do well on the English soil, adding that they covered all areas in the match at Kent. “Entire team believes that we will do very well here,” he added.

On Muhammad Abbas, the Pakistan Head Coach was quite clear-headed and said, “Definitely, Abbas has experience here, and given the conditions in which he has played league cricket here, he will definitely be one of our main bowlers on this tour.”

On Pakistan’s decline as a test team, the former wicket-keeper batter admitted the fact that the Pakistan had not done well recently. However, he was of the view that the team had worked very hard.

“Apart from the last camp we held, some of the middle-order players also performed in the West Indies series. Babar was in excellent form. Unfortunately, he is not available. But all the players who have played the side matches here have been practicing. Everyone has worked very hard. Saud has scored a hundred here as well, so his form is very good. He looks to be in a very good rhythm. So I hope that our middle order will also perform well in the series,” Sarfraz  responded.

On the loss of Babar Azam and team performance in the first test, the head-coach admitted that Babar’s absence was a big setback for the team, adding that they will try to forge a good combination to make for Babar’s absence. He said Babar’s presence will have made a different team for the first test but they will have sit back and reassess things.

Sarfraz said the team management will select a team in the light of pitch conditions, adding that they will do good against England.

On Salman Ali Agha’s lack of form recently, Sarfraz expressed his full confidence in Salman Agha, admitting that apart from the last two or three test matches his performance has been good. He expressed the hope that the burden of captaincy will draw the best out of Salman Ali Agha.

On Babar’s absence as a setback and Rizwan and Agha’s form, the head-coach said, “I would not call it a setback but an unfortunate situation. Babar was completely fit, but he was hit by the ball in the same place again. So it is unfortunate that Babar is not available for the test match. As far as Rizwan and Agha are concerned, I said this when we first came here as well: both are senior players in our team, and I am very confident that both of them will perform very well for the team on this tour.”