Pakistan player in focus: Babar Azam

England take on Pakistan in a three-Test series later this year, with Edgbaston Stadium hosting to final Test of the summer between the two sides.

2026-07-20T14:00+01:00

Earlier this month, Pakistan named a 17-player squad for the series, with icon Babar Azam returning as captain of the red-ball team after previously holding the role between 2021 and 2023.

He is one of several stand-out players in the Pakistan squad that we will be highlighting in the build up to the highly anticipated series, with the third and final Test taking place at The People’s Home of Cricket from 9-13 September. Last tickets are left.

Azam needs no introduction having been a leading light for Pakistan across all-formats for the last decade.

The 31-year-old made his Test debut as a 21-year-old, ten years ago in 2016, and has gone on to become one of leading run-getters in the format for his country. His total of 4,481 runs put him tenth in the list of all-time run-scorers for Pakistan in Test cricket, a tally that recognises his consistent contribution to the side.

Between the start of 2018 and the end of 2022, Babar hit a purple streak, racking up almost 9,000 runs across formats over those five years, more than any other batter. He peaked in 2022, ranking among the top three batters in the world in Tests and ODIs, while scoring 1,184 Test runs over the course of the year. That included four hundreds, one of which was a ten-hour 196 in a thrilling draw against Australia at home.

For Pakistan to have success in England, Azam will need to be at his best, and after a rare period where he struggled for runs between the end of 2024 and the middle of 2025, he looked close to his best earlier this year against Bangladesh, with scores of 68 and 47 in the second Test.

Now back in charge of the team as captain, he will be hoping to lead from the front when the series against England gets under way in August.

This will be the first time Azam has played a Test at Edgbaston, however he does have previous form at the ground in One Day Internationals. In four appearances, he has two hundreds. The first of those came against New Zealand in the 2019 Cricket World Cup, where he hit an unbeaten 101 to see his country to a six-wicket win. Two years later, he registered an outstanding unbeaten 158 against England in the third and final ODI of the series, a score that remains his highest in the format.