The England skipper made 105, and put on a 185-run stand for the second wicket with Joe Root after he won the toss and elected to bat. Cook's century saw him extend his own Test record to 29, but it was his first hundred at this level in 20 innings since a mammoth 263 against the same opponent in Abu Dhabi last October.
"It's been a while since I scored a hundred for England," Cook said after first day's play. "It was nice to win the toss against Misbah-ul-Haq, finally, and it was an opportunity to score a few runs on a wicket that will be good for a few days but will deteriorate as the game goes on. First-innings runs are vital and now we are in with an opportunity to get well over four or five hundred."
Cook's hundred saw him draw level with Australia legend Don Bradman's Test tally of 29 centuries.
"I can't really compare that, when he did it in half the games or even less ... so it's just nice to get past 28 (hundreds)," said Cook, in his 131st Test compared to Bradman's 52.
Cook was eventually bowled by Mohammad Amir at the stroke of Tea. The left-arm pacer was constantly targeted with screams of 'no-ball' by sections of the Old Trafford every time he was in his delivery stride, a reference to the spot-fixing scandal of 2010. Cook claimed that he didn't hear it and chose not to read much into the incident.
"I didn't notice the calls of 'no ball' but that's probably a good sign. I was thinking about more important things. I said at the start of the series that might happen and there has got to be some consequence a little bit.
"The most important thing is the way both sides so far have played in the series. Cricket has been the talking point - whether it's the performances of Chris Woakes or Yasir Shah (in the first Test). If we continue to do that, cricket will be spoken about, which is the most important thing."
While much of the attention was hogged by the English opener, it was Root who was the star of the day. The 25-year-old was unbeaten on 141 at stumps on Day 1 with England comfortably placed at 314 for 4. It was his 10th Test ton in 44 matches.
Root, twice out to poor shots at Lord's, did not offer a single chance in more than six hours' batting on Friday. "I've felt in good touch all summer, (but) I've found some stupid ways to get out," said Root.
"I worked really hard today, to graft - maybe not score at the rate I have done previously over the last couple of years, but if that's what it's going to take to score big hundreds that's what I'm going to have to do."
England, who lost the first Test match of the series at Lord's, losing 10 wickets to legspinner Yasir Shah, put up an impressive show on the opening day of the second match. Shah went wicketless in the 31 overs he bowled, leaking 111 runs. Root said playing more straight bat shots had taken the "risk out" of facing Shah.
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