Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Wednesday provided an update on his fitness, saying that he has reached 90% recovery from a hand injury ahead of the second Test against England at Lord’s.
Speaking at the pre-match conference, Babar said he had participated in two practice sessions the previous day and was scheduled to take part in another training session following the press conference. He expressed confidence that he was nearing full match fitness.
“Yes, yesterday I had a couple of training sessions. And again, after this, I’m going for my practice session. Just 90%; I am fit for tomorrow’s match and the rest of the series,” Babar told reporters.
The second Test of the three-match away series is scheduled to be played at Lord’s from August 27 to 31.
It is pertinent to mention that Babar missed the series opener in Leeds after suffering an injury to his hand during the three-day practice match against the Professional County Club (PCC) Select XI in Beckenham earlier this month.
The incident had occurred in the 39th over of Pakistan’s first innings when pacer Manny Lumsden bowled a sharp delivery that struck Babar on the finger.
He immediately appeared to be in pain, dropped his bat and received attention from the medical staff before walking off the field after scoring five runs from 17 deliveries.
Notably, the blow marked the second time in a month Babar had been struck on the hand, following a similar incident during Pakistan’s Test series against the West Indies.
Later, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had shared that the star batter, as a precautionary measure, was advised by its medical team to miss the remainder of the practice game.
