The hosts finally made their long-awaited entrance into the Test arena after an opening day washout at Malahide Cricket Club near Dublin.

Boyd Rankin, Tim Murtagh and Stuart Thompson all claimed two wickets before rain brought play to a premature halt.

Pakistan had been struggling early on but Faheem Ashraf and Shadab Khan played patiently to lead the recovery effort.

Ireland won the toss and bowled and their first delivery in Test cricket proved eventful as Imam ul-Haq suffered an injury when scrambling for a quick single.

Imam eventually recovered before fellow opener Azhar Ali became Ireland's first scalp at this level when he edged to slip for four runs off the bowling of Boyd Rankin, who had previously represented England.

Imam did not last much longer as he departed the next ball, leaving Ireland jubilant and Pakistan in trouble at 13-2.

Pakistan rebuilt and managed to not lose a wicket before the lunch break.

Shafiq began to steady the Pakistan ship and reached his 50 from 107 balls after the restart.

But Haris Sohail quickly became the next victim as he was out for 31 and Babar Azam made 14 before Murtagh struck to reduce Pakistan to 104-4.

Rankin and Thompson removed Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed respectively before Ashraf and Khan steered Pakistan to the close.

Ireland was awarded Test status by the International Cricket Council last June.

This was along with Afghanistan, raising the number of Test-playing nations from 10 to 12.

Ireland became the first to debut in Test cricket since Bangladesh in 2000, and just the 11th nation to play men's Test cricket ever.