With a shrug of the shoulders and a look of near embarrassment, Misbah-ul-Haq acknowledged the significance of winning the toss on day one of the second Test in almost comical fashion.

Alastair Cook played up to the pantomime with a playful exacerbated look up to the heavens, but he knew that of all the places to lose the toss in the UAE, it may as well be Dubai.

The last time England played Pakistan here they went on to skittle the hosts for 99, with Stuart Broad and James Anderson sharing seven of the ten wickets.

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A year later, Pakistan were bowled out for the same total against South Africa.

As Cook noted in the pre-match press conference in Dubai, there is a little bit in the wicket for everyone, with both spin and seam enjoying success on a much more productive track than those seen in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah – Pakistan’s main strongholds.

“It will turn more and a bit quicker than Abu Dhabi,” said Cook. “Last time we were here, there was a bit more for the seamers early on.

“It’s a unique stadium here – the shadow over the ground is still there or close to still being there at 10am – and that allows a little more dampness in the wicket overnight, so there is a little bit more movement early on. I think it should be a better cricket wicket.”

Cook was spot on, with Dubai the most fruitful wicket for quicks in the first session of Tests of any in the world to have hosted more than five matches.

Before this Test, fast bowlers had accounted for 19 wickets in the morning session at an average of 17.31.

Dubai is also far more likely to serve up a positive outcome than its capital city sibling, with six of the eight Tests at Sports City ending with a victor, compared with four draws out of eight in Abu Dhabi.

And of those matches in Abu Dhabi, only once has a team won after losing the toss, that being the hosts against South Africa in 2013.

Dubai, however, has seen the side to have lost the toss and been put into bat win three times, Sri Lanka even claiming victory in January last year after winning the coin flip and fielding.

Likewise, in Sharjah six of seven Tests have seen a winner, the side being put into bat winning on three occasions.

And in Dubai, the side to win the toss and bat first has only twice gone on to win, although teams have chosen to do so on seven of eight times.

While there are silver linings abound for England to look to, their record in Dubai supports none of them.

In the two Tests England have played here, they have lost both after both winning the toss and strapping on pads and losing the toss and being put in the field.

Cook will be desperate to change that record this time around, a win leaving them in a prime position to be the first touring party to claim a series win over Pakistan on UAE soil.