England cricket team announced the playing XI for the first Test against Pakistan. In a massive blow, England captain Ben Stokes failed to regain fitness for the first Test and was ruled out of the game. Ollie Pope will continue to captain England in Stokes' absence. Stokes picked up an injury while playing in the Hundred and missed the Test series against Sri Lanka at home. He was picked in the squad for the Test series against Pakistan, however, failed to get fit in time for the first Test in Multan.
England are in Pakistan for a three-Test series and would start as slight favourites given Pakistan's miserable record at home where they failed to win a series since 2022. When England last toured Pakistan in 2022-2023, they thrashed the host 3-0 and they'd hope for similar results this time around.
Meanwhile, pacer Brydon Carse will make his Test debut in Multan while spinner Jack Leach also returned to the side. England was also bolstered by the return of Zak Crawley.
Must Win Series For Pakistan
Pakistan's World Test Championship (WTC) final chances are in jeopardy but the team is not technically out of the race. To keep their hopes alive, the hosts would have to beat England 3-0 and then hope to beat South Africa 2-0 away from home. If the Shan Masood-led side can win five back-to-back Tests, they would have an outside chance but odds will be high they will still fail to make it to the final.
England Playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (C), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse (Debut), Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir
Pakistan squad for 1st Test: Shan Masood (c), Saud Shakeel (vc), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi.