England, seeking to bounce back from their nine-wicket thrashing in the first Test at Lord's and end the two-match series all square at 1-1, resumed the day at 302-7 with a lead of 128 runs.
Jos Buttler, dropped on four, boosted the lead with 80 not out, while the tail-enders were quickly bowled out by a resurgent Pakistan bowling attack.
Faheem Ashraf topped the tally with 3 wickets. Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Abbas and Hasan Ali took 2 wickets each, while Shadab Khan managed one.
Earlier, nightwatchman Dominic Bess led a determined batting effort, helping England to build a significant first-innings lead after Pakistan were dismissed for a meagre 174 on Friday.
The 20-year-old fell one run short of his second successive Test half-century when he edged to slip.
The Yorkshire keeper looked at ease in his home surroundings and struck successive boundaries in the 80th over before thin-edging his next ball to the keeper.
´Pay the price´
Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur was left regretting his side´s first-innings collapse after skipper Safraz Ahmed won the toss.
"We didn´t get enough runs in the first innings, that´s the key," said Arthur after the end of day two.
"You pay the price, if you win the toss and bat you need to score 300-plus to put pressure on the opposition," the South African added.
But Pakistan pacers were not the only ones left frustrated on Friday. England skipper Joe Root, having often been criticised for failing to convert his Test fifties into hundreds, fell for 45 on Saturday when, chasing a scrambled seam delivery from Amir angled across him, he succeeded only in getting a thin edge to wicket-keeper Sarfraz.
England saw their tea score of 199 for three quickly transformed into 212 for five as they lost both Dawid Malan (28) and Bess, who shared a fourth-wicket stand of 62.
Amir struck with his first delivery after tea when a ball of extra bounce took the shoulder of Malan´s bat and looped gently to Haris Sohail at first slip.
Bess was on the brink of another Test half-century when, trying to dab a quicker ball from teenager Shadab, he was well caught by Asad Shafiq at slip to end a 95-ball innings that included seven fours.
England should really have been 220 for six when Buttler, who had made just four, stabbed at Shadab only for the ball to burst through Hasan Ali´s hands at midwicket.
Not long afterwards, Buttler was hit flush on the helmet by a Hasan bouncer after missing an intended pull shot.
But he hit the next ball for four.
Jonny Bairstow too might have fallen in single figures when he was lbw playing no shot to medium-pacer Faheem Ashraf for eight only to be spared on review by height.
Ashraf did dismiss the Yorkshireman for 21, however, when Bairstow edged to Sarfraz shortly before the new ball became available.
But the last over of the day saw Curran pull and drive two fours off successive Hasan deliveries.
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