The 24-year-old mystery spinner grabbed 7-114 and got plenty of help from the dry wicket at Multan Cricket Stadium to dismiss England for 281 inside the first two sessions on Friday.

England then got rid of both Pakistan openers -- Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique -- early before captain Babar Azam's unbeaten 61 carried the home team to 2-107 at stumps when bad light stopped play with 10 overs still remaining in the day.

Saud Shakeel, who scored a gritty half century in Pakistan's 74-run defeat in the first test at Rawalpindi, was not out on 32.

Ahmed was surprisingly left out from the first Test despite picking up 43 wickets in this season's first-class tournament.

He mystified England with his sharp googlies and carrom balls with only Ben Duckett (63) and Ollie Pope (60) scoring rapid half-centuries.

Legspinner Zahid Mahmood made a forgettable Test debut at Rawalpindi, but finished off the tail just before tea to end up with 3-63 after Ahmed's brilliance constantly posed challenges to England's aggression.

Duckett and Pope both scored fifties in the first session before falling to Ahmed as the legspinner became only the second bowler ever to pick up five wickets before lunch in his debut Test and England reached 5-180.

Leftarm spinner Alf Valentine of the West Indies was the other bowler to do so when he debuted against England at Manchester in 1950.

Ahmed struck off his fifth ball as Babar turned to his new spinner as early as the ninth over after Ben Stokes won the toss and elected to bat.

Ahmed challenged England's aggression through his variety of bowling on a wicket offering plenty of assistance to the spinners inside the first hour and wasn't afraid to lure the England batters through his variations.

Zak Crawley (19) was baffled by Ahmed's sharp delivery which jagged back into him and knocked back his stumps and then the legspinner successfully won lbw decisions against Duckett and Joe Root (8) through television referrals.

Duckett and Pope combined in a 79-run stand off 61 balls and briefly dominated even Ahmed through their extravagant reverse sweep shots before the bowler broke through soon after Duckett had completed his half century.

England didn't slow down and their fearless approach to score at a rapid pace cost them when Pope was caught at point while going for a reverse sweep and Harry Brook gave a skied shot to Nawaz at mid-off against Ahmed.

Stokes (30) and Will Jacks (31) added 61 but Ahmed continued to strike after lunch by removing both batters in his successive overs. Stokes was shocked by Ahmed's sharp turner that hit the lefthander's off stump and Jacks was trapped lbw.

Mark Wood struck eight fours in his unbeaten 36 off 27 balls before Mahmood wrapped up England's innings quickly.

Jimmy Anderson struck early, finding the outside edge of Imam in his second over without scoring before wicketkeeper Pope held on to another thin edge of Shafique's bat against Jack Leach.

Babar, who pushed himself at No.3 after Azhar was dropped, was fluent against both spin and pace and completed his half-century off 57 balls late in the last session before bad light brought an early closure.

Australian Associated Press