England made a steady start by scoring 96 runs for the loss of one wicket in reply to Pakistan's 556 runs in the first innings on Thursday, the second day of the first Test match of the three-match series. At the end of the day's play, Jack Crowley was at the crease with 64 runs with the help of 11 fours while Joe Root was at 32 runs. Captain Ollie Pope was out without opening the account. Amir Jamal took a brilliant one-handed catch by diving on the ball of Naseem Shah.

England is still 460 runs behind Pakistan. Pope opened the innings after regular opener Ben Duckett suffered an injury to his left thumb. Duckett suffered this injury while catching England's 11th-order batsman Abrar Ahmed. His attempt on Root's ball ended Pakistan's innings which lasted for about five and a half sessions. It is not yet known whether Duckett will be able to come to bat in this match or not.

Earlier, Salman Agha (104 not out) became the third batsman of Pakistan to score a century in this match. For the team, Saud Shakeel made useful contributions of 82 runs, night watchman Naseem 33 runs, and Shaheen Shah Afridi 26 runs. For England, Jack Leach took three wickets for 160 runs while Shoaib Bashir took one wicket for 124 runs. However, Pakistan did not face any problems against these two spinners.

Brydon Cars' long wait for his first Test wicket ended with Naseem's wicket. He took two wickets for 74 runs. Gus Atkinson (two wickets for 99 runs) and Chris Woakes (one wicket for 69 runs) also did not get much help from the pitch. Pakistan started the day at 328 for four. In the first session of the day, England did not give Pakistan a chance to score runs quickly. Cars put an end to Naseem's presence at the crease for about one and a half hours, while Leach dismissed Mohammad Rizwan without opening the account.

Shakeel, who started the day with 35 runs, held one end and completed his half-century with a four against Bashir. However, this bowler got Shakeel caught by Root after lunch. Agha then batted rapidly. He hit some brilliant fours with drive and sweep shots. On the first day of the match, captain Shan Masood (151) and Abdullah Shafique (102) had scored centuries. Agha took the team's score beyond 550 runs by hitting 10 fours and three sixes in his unbeaten innings of 119 balls.