Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed took advantage of a blazing sun, a no-frills track and a jaded, depleted opponent to post a pair of pretty fifties. But their middle and lower-order colleagues struggled to drive home the advantage, as Malinga Bandara made up for his first-game lashing with three for 56.
Already without Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan, the decision to rest Lasith Malinga – and Sanath Jayasuriya – meant that halfway through, with Salman and Yasir in elegant tandem, carnage was on the cards.
Pakistan had already rushed to 153, thanks as much to Salman and Yasir as some wretched bowling from Ruchira Perera and Dilhara Fernando.
Perera in particular seemed to have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed: left-arm and of indeterminate pace he may be, Vaas he isn't. If the no-ball to begin the innings was careless, the two leg-side half-volleys that Salman clipped through square leg in that over were wretched.
It was a recurring leitmotif in those first overs, Perera honing in on Butt's shins and toes, the batsman honing in on the square leg hoarding. Fernando was quicker, but no better, a Mohammad Sami doppelganger if ever. Though he sent back Imran Nazir early, the start had already been given away.
Salman and Yasir slipped into a delicious groove, their timing not betraying lengthy absences from the ODI side. Not a slog was seen during the duo's 98-run partnership, as befits batsmen of such poise, and they still went at nearly a run a ball. Drives, angled bats, flicks, punches all slipped past fielders on the surface rather than the air, Salman bringing up an important fifty – his first in 15 months – inevitably putting Perera away.
Farvez Maharoof's terribly upright seam had already injected a sliver of caution into both batsmen but Bandara's intervention began a much better second half of the innings for Sri Lanka. That 32-run over on Friday actually defaced a decent spell and so it showed here; Yasir was troubled then and was troubled now. Having strengthened his case as Pakistan's one down in Younis Khan's absence upon reaching fifty, he immediately weakened it, chipping a lame drive back.
Two more Bandara overs later, bravely flighted much of it, Salman did likewise ending a smooth 74, tough at least 26 runs short. Shoaib Malik, keen to impose, succeeded in a dangerous dance down the pitch once, but succumbed in Bandara's next over striving for an encore.
Tillekeratne Dilshan propped Bandara up, with a spell typifying what modern ODI off-spin bowling has become: flat, speared in, little turn and hardly time to blink between balls. Boundaries vanished, runs threatened to and wickets fell just when they needn't have.
At one stage, 300, once a formality, appeared a struggle and it was only some poor fielding which ultimately allowed Pakistan to go past it. Mohammad Yousuf was dropped, Abdul Razzaq's strangled 16 should've ended earlier twice and Kamran Akmal was also let off, Sri Lanka appearing a team jaded by their Caribbean exertions.
One poor over from Maharoof, the 49th, undid a stretch of good ones gone before as Mohammad Sami swiped away to ensure Pakistan's total, below their own expectations at one stage, might well still be beyond Sri Lanka's reach.
Scoreboard
PAKISTAN:
Salman Butt c and b Bandara 74
Imran Nazir b Fernando 17
Yasir Hameed c and b Bandara 50
Mohammad Yousuf run out 37
Shoaib Malik b Bandara 27
Kamran Akmal c Dilshan b Maharoof 38
Shahid Afridi c Bandara b Maharoof 1
Abdul Razzaq b Fernando 16
Mohammad Sami b Maharoof 22
Umar Gul not out 0
Mohammad Asif not out 5
EXTRAS (LB-5, W-17, NB-4) 26
TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 313
FALL OF WKTS: 1-45, 2-143, 3-167, 4-207, 5-233, 6-237, 7-276, 8-308, 9-308.
BOWLING: Perera 10-2-67-0 (1nb, 4w); Fernando 10-0-71-2 (1nb, 3w); Maharoof 10-0-65-3 (1nb); Bandara 10-0-56-3 (1nb); Dilshan 10-0-50-0 (1w).
SRI LANKA: W.U. Tharanga, C.K. Kapugedera, B.S.M. Warnapura, D.P.M.D. Jayawardene, L.P.C. Silva, T.M. Dilshan, H.A.P.W. Jayawardene, M.F. Maharoof, C.M. Bandara, P.D.R.L. Perera, C.R.D. Fernando.
UMPIRES: R.B. Tiffin (Zimbabwe) and S.L. Shastri (India).
TV UMPIRE: M.R. Benson (England).
MATCH REFEREE: J. Srinath (India).
—Cricinfo