The lunch break seemed to have rejuvenated Mohammad Amir, who ran in at full tilt and cranked up the pace once again when the play resumed. Stokes, who displayed uncanny patience in the last hour of the first session, decided to shift gears. In the third over of the session, Amir got the ball to swing in late to the left-handed batsman, but Stokes adjusted in the last minute and flicked the ball to the fence behind square, giving a glimpse of his approach, garnering a wild applause from the stands. Stokes didn't hold back against Yasir Shah either, negating the leggie's around-the-wicket ploy by combining deft footwork with authoritative stroke-making.
The build-up to Root's double century and the stroke with which he eventually reached his milestone epitomised his levels of concentration and how well he'd got his eye in at Old Trafford. Yasir, still bowling from around the stump, was starting to get the ball to turn sharply off the rough areas.
The fourth delivery of the 130th over spun viciously after pitching outside the leg stump, beating Root's outside edge while he was batting on 197. Root couldn't get bat on ball but had sighted the degree of spin well enough to confidently execute a reverse sweep off the very next delivery that was identical in length. The ball raced away to the third man fence, allowing Root to revel in his second double century in Tests.
Wahab Riaz, who replaced Amir, struck against the run of play in the 131st over after Stokes feathered a short ball down the leg side to Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps. The bowler wasn't too keen in his appeal but the wicketkeeper was sure of having heard a sound. Misbah-ul-Haq's decision for a review seemed more out of desperation than conviction, but it worked in his favour as the third umpire Joel Wilson attributed the spike on the snickometer to the small mark sighted on the Stokes's glove when the ball went past. After some deliberation, Wilson reckoned the evidence was conclusive enough to direct Kumar Dharamasena to overturn his original decision. An infuriated Stokes walked back for 34.
Pakistan had the chance to double up on a breakthrough in the following over, but Sarfraz fluffed a simple edge off Jonny Bairstow's willow. The reprieve was made full use of as Bairstow and Root kick-started another partnership, during which England went past the 500-run mark. Intriguingly, Misbah soon turned to part-time medium pace of Shan Masood, perhaps to give his main bowlers a rest. Root and Bairstow negotiated that period with consummate ease.
Earlier in the day, Yasir's perseverance bore fruit after 38 overs of toil as he made a vital breakthrough in an otherwise lacklustre session for the visitors. Yasir's first scalp of the game ended a 103-run fifth-wicket partnership between Root and Chris Woakes, with the latter falling for a well-made 58. Root carried forward his Day 1 intentions of playing absolutely straight of the wicket and not giving in to the temptations of attempting audacious sweep and pull shots. Even when the sweep shots came, they were devoid of the element of risk as he kept them along the ground to continue frustrating the Pakistan bowlers who'd seen a lot of success only five days ago at Lord's.
Brief Scores: England 533 for 6 (Joe Root 226*, Alastair Cook 105, Chris Woakes 58) vs Pakistan.
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