Pakistan's First Test Against England: Doubts Over Captaincy and Injuries Persist
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Babar Azam remains in doubt for first Test against England Pakistan are set to make a late selection call over Babar as they await clearance of his finger injury from the medical panel
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The Guardian SportPakistan, meanwhile, are still to make a call on whether Babar Azam, their captain and star batter, will be fit to play the first Test. Babar suffered a blow to his right hand while batting in a warm-up fixture last week at Beckenham, forcing him to retire hurt.
NDTV SportsBabar Azam Out Of 1st England Test ? Report Reveals Possible Pakistan Captaincy Picks File photo of Babar Azam
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Doubts about England’s leadership succession planning emerged when the captaincy was given to Joe Root ahead of test vice-captain and white-ball skipper Harry Brook, who was endorsed by Stokes.
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The Guardian SportIn a parallel universe Brook is about to captain England’s Test team for the first time at his home ground of Headingley this week. Instead, England have turned back to Joe Root as the successor to Ben Stokes, with Rob Key saying the vacancy had come “too soon” for Brook and hinting that greater maturity was needed.
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England’s lineup was mostly set two weeks ago. Jordan Cox will bat at No. 3 for the injured Jacob Bethell and Dan Lawrence, recalled after two years, is first to try and fill Stokes’ allrounder role.
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The Guardian SportNow comes another unfamiliar role, starting on Wednesday in the three-match series against Pakistan – but Cox is grateful for the straightforward message provided by the England selector Marcus North. He will bat at first drop in the first two Tests in the absence of the injured Jacob Bethell. “Northy didn’t have to go: ‘You’re batting at three in these two Test matches’, but he did. This is 100% – unless I get injured,” Cox said. “Clarity’s one of the best things in sport.”
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Masood broke his left index finger in the first West Indies test and missed the second but has been practicing. If Masood is still unfit, Abdullah Shafique will continue at No. 3; in his first test since October he scored 160 not out in the Port of Spain win.
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The Guardian SportThe Pakistan seamer sounded more hopeful about the prospect of Shan Masood featuring. Their former captain broke a finger in the first Test against West Indies last month and offers valuable experience in these conditions, having scored a ton on Pakistan’s last Test tour of England six years ago and made County Championship hundreds for Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.
3 details only one outlet reported
Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 NDTV Sports Massive Babar Azam Statement From Azhar Mahmood Sparks Debate Azhar Mahmood blamed former players and social media pundits for constantly pulling Babar Azam down.
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02 The Guardian Sport You have to hand it to Bazball. Even when seemingly killed off, and the England team it left behind is thousands of miles away, preparing for a series against Pakistan, it has still managed to muscle its way into the fallout from Bangladesh’s seismic victory over Australia in Darwin. Talk about main character energy.
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03 AP Sports Two teams desperate for success meet when England and Pakistan begin a three-test series on Wednesday in Leeds.
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Sources (4)
- guardian-sport
- ndtv-sports
- espncricinfo
- ap-sports