Babar arrived in Bangladesh on Monday, just hours after Zalmi’s PSL final win. He trained for two days with the side without apparent discomfort, but woke up with pain in his left knee on Thursday morning, with the medical team opting to take him out of contention for the first Test.
Babar has been all but a fixture in the Test side for the better part of a decade. He was dropped for a pair of Tests against England in late 2024, but found himself back in the side soon after. Friday’s game is the first away Test match Babar will miss since January 2021.
His absence leaves a hole in the middle order that, invariably, a debutant will have to fill. The top three comprise Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, and one of Azam Awais or Abdullah Fazal, neither of whom has played Test cricket for Pakistan previously. Babar’s absence could force both into the top four, or make room for seam-bowling allrounder Amad Butt lower down the order, with Mohammad Rizwan or Saud Shakeel moving up.
This is Pakistan’s first away Test series of the current World Test Championship cycle. They have played two Tests so far in a home series against South Africa, winning one and losing the other. The last time Pakistan and Bangladesh played a Test series, Pakistan were blanked 2-0 at home.