Pakistan have an obvious Babar stand-in as captain but will they trust him against England?

Babar was hit on the bottom hand by a delivery from England U19 bowler Manny Lumsden and did not bat again in the match. He returned to the nets on Monday and appeared comfortable, but spent only a short time batting, leaving Pakistan with a decision to make ahead of Wednesday's Test at Headingley. Mohammad Abbas said in a press conference on Monday that a decision would be taken over whether Babar would play on the first day of the match.

With Babar's fitness still subject to medical advice, and Pakistan without a designated vice-captain, they may have to consider their leadership options if he is ruled out.

Shan Masood would be the funniest emergency solution for Pakistan, because they would essentially be undoing their own decision six weeks after making it. He led Pakistan in 16 Tests, winning four and losing 12, and lost all seven Tests he captained away from home before Pakistan took the job away from him and handed it back to Babar. If Pakistan now put the armband straight back on him against England, it would be an admission that Pakistan will play the game with, in the PCB's eyes, a captain who's not up to the job. Pakistan's frequent changes across formats have already created enough uncertainty, and bringing Masood back only to hand the job back to Babar a game later would add another unnecessary layer of chaos.

Salman Ali Agha is a strong stand-in option, but his case is hardly straightforward. He has a respectable T20I captaincy record, winning 31 of his 50 matches in charge, so Pakistan would not be handing the reins to someone without leadership experience. However, he has limited experience in longer-format leadership - just four first-class matches as captain, and none in the last four years. The one-off nature of the appointment works in his favour: if Babar returns, there is no need to rethink the hierarchy. But that does not make the Test itself unimportant. Pakistan are starting a series in England, where a strong result matters, and England under new leadership are an unknown quantity. Giving Salman his first Test as captain would be a calculated risk rather than a consequence-free experiment.

Saud Shakeel is perhaps the strongest candidate as stand-in captain against England. He has never captained Pakistan in a Test, but has led in 23 first-class matches, most recently guiding Karachi Blues to last year's Quaid-e-Azam Trophy title. At 30, he is also an established Test batter, with 1,802 runs at 43.95 from 23 Tests. There are concerns, though: fitness issues kept him out of the West Indies Tests, while his form had dipped to just 189 runs at under 19 across his previous ten innings. His unbeaten hundred in Pakistan's warm-up win at Beckenham was therefore particularly timely, continuing his strong record in England, where he averages 56.90 in 11 innings, the best among Pakistan batters with at least 200 runs in the country since 2010. For a one-off Test, his first-class leadership experience and record in England make him a credible choice.

Mohammad Rizwan has plenty of international captaincy experience, but there are reasons to be cautious about making him a stand-in Test captain. He led Pakistan in 20 ODIs, winning nine and losing 11, before being replaced after the 2025 Champions Trophy. He has never captained Pakistan in a Test, while his batting has also dipped since 2025, with an average of 34.23 runs across nine Tests and no hundreds. That said, his experience of leading Pakistan could make him a sensible one-Test option, particularly if the team wants someone accustomed to the role. The bigger question is whether Pakistan want to add leadership responsibility to a batter who is already struggling for runs.

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