Zak Crawley and Joe Root's assured start with the bat gave England hope on day two of their first Test against Pakistan, after the hosts had again impressed with the bat.

Just like on day one, the tourists struggled in the field as Pakistan racked up an impressive total of 556, before overcoming setbacks to steady the ship late in the day.

England were unable to build on their strong finish to day one, which saw them take three late wickets to halt Pakistan at 328-4, but Brydon Carse (2-74) got a wicket on his debut to end Naseem Shah's stand of 33.

Saud Shakeel's 82 put the hosts further out of reach, but it was Salman Ali Agha's unbeaten 104 off 119 balls that kept the momentum firmly with Pakistan, though it almost turned out differently.

Chris Woakes made a spectacular boundary catch with Salman on 15, but it was ruled not out as Woakes was judged to have stepped beyond the rope, denying England a chance to drop the hosts to 420-7.

Though England at one point took four wickets for 76 runs, it did little to end the onslaught, and they finished Pakistan's innings on a low note as opener Ben Duckett hurt his thumb taking the catch on the final wicket.

Ollie Pope then opened in his place, but the stand-in captain was taken for a duck on just his second ball.

However, Crawley (64 not out) and Root (32 not out) managed to calm any nerves as they reached stumps at 96-1, though they still trail by 460 runs.

Data Debrief: Pakistan race out of the blocks again

After making a flying start on day one, Pakistan caught England out with a similar tactic on Tuesday, adding 64 to the fifth wicket before Naseem was made to walk.

Jack Leach (3-160) was the pick of England's bowlers as they struggled in the heat, but for the most part, the tourists had no answers as Salman became the third centurion in the Test so far.

They will be hoping Crawley and Root can continue defying Pakistan with their stand on day three, with the latter now just 39 runs away from overtaking Alistair Cook as England's all-time leading run-scorer.

Saim Ayub and Saud Shakeel bailed out Pakistan after a slow start to day one of their Test against Bangladesh.

Rain limited play to just one session at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, but Pakistan eventually made their time with the bat count as they reached 158-4 on Wednesday.

It was a poor start as Abdullah Shafique was dismissed for just two runs before Shoriful Islam (2-30) took both Shan Masood (6) and Babar Azam (0) as Pakistan fell to 16-3.

However, Ayub and Shakeel soon found their footing, adding 98 runs as a partnership before the former was finally caught for 56.

Shakeel reached 57 not out and Mohammad Rizwan reached 24 not out as Pakistan dragged themselves into a much stronger position before bad light brought play to a close for the day. 

Data Debrief: Slow and steady

Since making his debut in October 2016, Azam has been dismissed for a duck eight times in men's Tests; only Azhar Ali (11) among Pakistani batters has been dismissed more often for a duck during the same period.

However, Shakeel's introduction soon turned the tide, and he became their joint-quickest batter to reach 1000 Test runs, getting there in his 20th innings and matching Saeed Ahmed's record from 1959.