Big Picture

McCullum flagged at the start of the tour that his team would be chasing results, even that meant hustling themselves to defeat in the process. It helps that England's World Test Championship hopes were dead on arrival; and there is no better way to win a three-match series than to go 2-0 up after two.

But Babar Azam might be grateful to know that, like an undead horde, this England will just keep coming. Not because he enjoys the stress headaches brought on by having to set fields when England's batters are on the charge, but because that very impulsiveness might result in a slip-up that lets Pakistan back into the contest - particularly if the pitches to come are anywhere near as uncooperative as Rawalpindi.

Pakistan might need to discover a new spirit of adventure themselves, but they could start with selection and then go from there. The batters acquitted themselves well enough in the first Test, with hundreds for the captain and both openers, while the debutant Saud Shakeel top-scored with 76 in their failed run chase. But it is not just hindsight to suggest that an attack featuring three debutants and 19-year-old Naseem Shah as its most-experienced head was always going to struggle in the face of England's onslaught.

Pakistan also need to push that bit harder for results across four home Tests against England and New Zealand, if they are to keep their own WTC final hopes alive. Once the morning fog clears in Multan, it'll be time to put the pedal to the metal once again. Go harder, or go home.

Form guide

Pakistan LLWLD (last five Tests, most recent first)
England WWWLW

In the spotlight

Team news

What will the Acme Pakistan Selection Generator come up with this week? They opted not to add an experienced seamer, in the mould of Hasan Ali or Mohammad Abbas, to their 17-man squad after the injury to Haris Rauf, but could still make as many as four changes to the attack. Naseem is a significant doubt due to a sore shoulder sustained during the Rawalpindi Test. Mohammad Nawaz seems likely to return as a spin-bowling option who can add depth to the batting, allrounder Faheem Ashraf may also be picked and Mohammad Wasim Jnr and Abrar Ahmed could potentially be Pakistan's fifth and sixth debutants for the series.

Pakistan (possible): 1 Imam-ul-Haq, 2 Abdullah Shafique, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Babar Azam (capt), 5 Saud Shakeel, 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 7 Agha Salman/Faheem Ashraf, 8 Mohammad Nawaz, 9 Naseem Shah/Mohammad Wasim Jnr, 10 Mohammad Ali, 11 Abrar Ahmed/Zahid Mahmood

Stokes confirmed just one change to the England XI, which means barring another late bout of illness striking the camp Ollie Pope will keep the gloves ahead of a fit-again Ben Foakes, with Wood coming in for the injured Livingstone.

England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Ollie Pope (wk), 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Will Jacks, 8 Ollie Robinson, 9 Jack Leach, 10 Mark Wood, 11 James Anderson

Pitch and conditions

Stats and trivia

Quotes

"We have staged comebacks in the past and were confident of doing so again. But we made mistakes in Pindi that we need to cut down on."
Babar Azam issues a rallying cry

"Whether we bat or bowl first we'll still be implementing the same style of cricket. If we bat first we'll try and press the run rate and move the game forward as fast as we can. And if we bowl first, I don't think you'll see too much difference to how we approached [Rawalpindi] with the ball."
Ben Stokes is promising more of the same