Moeen's background helping England

England's Moeen Ali has revealed his background helped gain insights into Pakistan's plans to dislodge Alastair Cook during his epic first Test double hundred.

The reason was that the 28-year-old allrounder understands the Urdu and Punjabi languages Pakistan players normally use to communicate during games.

Born and brought up in Birmingham, Moeen's grandfather married an English woman after migrating from Azad Kashmir in Pakistan.

"I do understand what they are saying," Ali said on Tuesday.

"When they had a plan for Cooky I was telling him what they will do."

The England skipper scored 263 in his side's 9-598 declared in Abu Dhabi in reply to Pakistan's 8-523.

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Pakistan slumped to 173 all out in the second innings to give England a 99-run target in 19 overs but umpires were forced to call off play eight overs early due to bad light.

Ali believes England have worried Pakistan.

"It's given us a lot of confidence and probably given Pakistan a bit of a nudge as well that we are here to be serious," he said, fearing Pakistan would come back strong in the second Test starting in Dubai from Thursday.

"We probably caught them off guard a bit in that last session but I'm sure they'll come back stronger and be well aware of it now," Ali said before praising fellow spinner Adil Rashid.

"I am very happy for him, he took some stick in the first innings," he said of Rashid who went for 163 runs in his wicket-less 34 overs.

"As a team we felt he bowled quite well actually. There was nothing in it for him or myself. We kept telling him his wickets would come, he was bowling well in the warm-ups, he's got so much talent and if his confidence is high he'll be good."

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Ali, who was promoted to opener for the first Test, told BBC Sport he would like to do the job on a permanent basis.

"It would be good for the team if I can do that - for the balance of the side. You could always play two spinners," Moeen, who made scores of 35 and 11, said.

"It was great to come off the field and go straight out to bat.

"My role is to score runs at the top of the order, get the team off to a good start and then hopefully bowl the opposition out.

"I just want to keep giving England a good start, which is really important here."