MULTAN: England closed third day of the first Test against Pakistan at 492/3, trailing by 64 runs in reply of the home teams' 556 at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

English batter and former skipper Joe Root scored a massive 176-run inning, also becoming the batter with most Test runs for England. 

Root began the day on 32 not out, needing a further 39 runs to eclipse Alastair Cook's tally of 12,472, and the batter eased to his target with an on-drive for four off Aamer Jamal before soaking up loud applause from the travelling English fans.

His half-century guided the team to 232-2 at lunch on the third day.

After Root, Harry Brook completed his century in the 84th over with eight fours and one six. It was Brook's sixth Test ton and fourth against Pakistan — which came off 118 balls. His individual score at the end of the day stands at 141 not out.

Earlier, the visitors resumed their innings from 96-1 after the home team amassed 556 in their first innings on a flat pitch. However, they lost Zak Crawley for 78 inside the first hour when the opener flicked one from Shaheen Afridi to Aamer Jamal at mid-wicket.

That abruptly ended the 109-run stand for the second wicket but England were in no mood to slow down.

Duckett, who dislocated his left thumb while taking a catch and was unable to open on Tuesday, showed no signs of the issue as he took to the crease and smashed spinner Abrar Ahmed out of the attack temporarily with three boundaries in the 30th over.

He needed only 45 balls to bring up his half-century as the hosts struggled to keep the run rate under five an over.

Playing XI

Pakistan: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmad

England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir