Standing in as captain for an injured Babar Azam in Leeds for the Test series opener against England, Pakistan’s Salman Ali Agha faced a barrage of questions from reporters after the Headingley humiliation.

Minutes after the heavy defeat at Headingley, the stand-in skipper had to answer whether this was Pakistan’s worst touring side to England in half a century.

The questions ranged from dropped catches and lukewarm pace bowling to a dismal batting effort as England outplayed the visitors in all departments.

The 32-year-old even had to defend wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan, who has struggled for runs this season. Facing a mountain to climb on day three at Headingley, Pakistan were relying on Rizwan to postpone the inevitable. Inexplicably taking singles early in the overs,

Pakistan's Mohammad Ali (right) reacts on day two of the second Rothesay Test match at Lord's, London. (Picture: PA)

placeholder image — Pakistan's Mohammad Ali (right) reacts on day two of the second Rothesay Test match at Lord's, London. (Picture: PA)

Rizwan’s batting approach was even questioned by Nasser Hussain on commentary. In the end, his T20-style shot selection proved costly against Gus Atkinson and ultimately brought his dismissal in the 36th over.

Pakistan only added four more runs to their embarrassing total and folded for a mere 135 to lose the series opener on the third day of the one-sided encounter.

“You can’t bat for two and a half days. It was more about trying to win a Test match - that was our mindset. We wanted to win,” Agha told The Yorkshire Post.

“As for his shots, Rizwan has scored plenty of runs playing them. Sometimes they come off, and sometimes they don’t. They look good when they work, and ugly when they don’t, but he has made a lot of runs with those shots. So, I’m more than happy for him to keep playing them,” added Agha, who registered forgettable scores (21 and 4) as captain in Leeds.

Rizwan did receive strong backing from Babar’s deputy, and Agha showed character by standing up for the under-fire batter. But at what cost?

Eyebrows were raised after the toss as Agha was the only change for Pakistan in the 2nd Test at Lord’s on Thursday. With a fit-again Babar returning to the starting XI, Pakistan were forced into the change at the expense of their stand-in skipper in Leeds.

Agha was also named among Pakistan’s five emergency fielders after Babar won the toss and invited England to bat.

Since Rizwan is still Pakistan’s first-choice gloveman despite his struggles with the bat, dropping him was never a realistic option for the visitors. Interestingly, Agha slipped under the radar of many broadcasters on social media with his cameo at Lord’s. Dubbed as ‘’the sub” on social media, Agha plucked a spectacular catch of Jordon Cox at second slip on the first day of the second Test.

With a Superman dive to his right, the demoted deputy grabbed a one-handed stunner to earn plaudits from the Lord’s faithful in the final session. “Wow. Sensational grab by the sub...best slip catch in Test history?,” Piers Morgan asked on X.

Agha’s fielding heroics and a much-improved bowling performance from Pakistan restricted England to 290 in the 1st innings at Lord’s on Friday.