The Test captain, Babar Azam, has confirmed his availability for the second Test against England to be played at Lord’s.

He’ll be returning to the field despite admitting he is not fully recovered from the finger injury which ruled him out of the series opener.

Babar missed the first test at Headingley, where England secured a massive win by an innings and 103 runs. Since then, the Pakistan captain has returned to training and is confident about his fitness.

Speaking at the press conference, Babar Azam said, “Yes, I’m 90% fit for tomorrow’s match.”

His return will significantly bolster Pakistan’s batting lineup, and he has an impressive record in England, with an average of 65.75 in the country, while he has scored at an average of 53.83 in 14 tests against England.

Babar Azam admitted Pakistan were well below their best at Headingley and said the team had spent time reviewing what went wrong.

“We’re not playing up to the mark, the way the England team is playing,” added Babar Azam. “But after that, we sat together and discussed our mistakes. And we just forgot those things and looked forward to tomorrow’s match.”

Pakistan fast bowling coach Umar Gul said the test captain faced pace in nets, but most of his batting work has come against throwdowns.

Babar Azam’s inclusion will provide great stability in the middle order, but he also admits that his presence alone will not fix the problems that contributed to the defeat in Headingley.

Pakistan were bowled out for 171 in their first innings, their lowest first innings Test score in a decade. They lost their final eight wickets for only 64 runs after Imam ul Haq and Abdullah Shafique had put together a promising 91-run partnership.

He believes the solution lies in the team producing better all-round performances rather than relying on individuals.

“You need to produce complete team performances,” he said. “You have to bowl and bat in partnerships.

“And you have to take it deep as a batter if you’re set. If you’re set, it’s a little easier. For a new batter, it’s a little bit difficult to build partnerships.”

“We need to (stamp out) the back-to-back wickets we lose. The senior batters need to be more focused and make up for it,” he said.

“The number Abdullah is batting at, he should (continue to) play there,” Babar said. “He’s batted three and four since his comeback. He’s got confidence there, so he’ll continue there,” added Azam.

The second test will be played between August 27 and 31 at Lord’sLondon.