Babar provides sage advice for Pakistan at Edgbaston Test

Pakistan captain Babar Azam is urging his teammates to play with freedom during the third and final ICC World Test Championship contest against England in Birmingham.

It's been a disappointing tour of England for Pakistan so far, with the Asian team on the wrong side of big losses across the first two Tests of the series and then suffering further despair when changing coaches and making a whopping seven changes to their squad for the series finale that commences at Edgbaston on Thursday.

But rather than dwell on the disappointment of what has happened on English soil thus far, Babar wants his team to use the situation to their advantage and adopt a different attitude when they take the field for the third Test.

"The series is lost but we have nothing to lose," Babar said. 

"We should play freely and believe in ourselves as a team. We've practiced a couple of days and explained things to the new boys. Any young player who comes in is excited, and that excitement is visible. I believe that will be visible in the match, too."

Babar missed the first Test of the series in Nottingham due to a hand injury and the Pakistan captain managed to make much of an impact during the second fixture at Lord's when he compiled scores of just eight and six as England cruised to a 194-run victory.

Saud Shakeel was the only Pakistan batter to score in excess of 50 during that Lord's contest and Babar knows he must lift his own performance during the third Test and lead by example for his less experienced teammates.

"Whenever you go into a series or tournament, you back yourself to perform," he said. 

"As a senior player, you have to take on more responsibility. I firmly believe you need to grab opportunities and perform in difficult conditions. That's why we play cricket, because we have to perform and dominate in difficult conditions. We need to forget about past failures and shift focus to the future."

Pakistan currently sit in ninth place on the World Test Championship standings, with England only three spots ahead of them in sixth.

Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Abdullah Fazal, Abdullah Shafique, Arafat Minhas, Azan Awais, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Imran, Mohammad Imran Jnr, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori, Razaullah, Saad Baig, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shan Masood, Ubaid Shah

Series schedule

First Test: August 19-23, Headingley (England won by an innings and 103 runs)

Second Test: August 27-31, Lord's (England won by 194 runs)

Third Test: September 9-13, Edgbaston