Sloppy Pakistan facilitate Sri Lanka progress

Karunaratne, the aggressive left hander survived on one, when he edged to first slip off a big no ball by Riaz, but the left armer had his man in the second ball of his second spell when Karunaratne miscued a pull to be caught behind for 21.

After surviving some anxious moments, Sri Lanka took lunch at 40 for 1, but unleashed soon after, scoring 83 runs at a healthy pace of 2.9 runs per over before tea as Pakistani bowlers were left to toil hard without success.

In between, they reprieved dangerous Kumar Sangakkara twice, the first being a run out opportunity when the master batsman was on 17 and then again on 21 when Yasir Shah let him off at short leg.

Sangakkara, who is playing his last test series on home soil was cruising smoothly, adding 112 runs for the second wicket when Riaz struck to remove the dangerous southpaw during the extended final session of play, his second scalp for the day.

Three balls after reaching his 52nd half century off 99 balls with surprisingly with just two boundaries, Sangakkara pushed forward to a delivery that pitched outside the off stump offering a simple catch to first slip, to end his 102 ball battle in the middle.

However by then diminutive right-handed opener Kaushal Silva had reached his 8th Test half century, one that was a mixture of overcautiousness and aggression.

His first eight runs off 42 deliveries before lunch and the dropped catch at backword point off Riaz by Yasir on six proved his struggle in the middle. However to his credit, the opener batted with more agression after the lunch break and raced towards his half century with eight boundaries and managed to carry his bat through the day.

He was unbeaten on 80 off 197 balls with 12 boudnaries while skipper Angelo Mathews was unbeaten on 10.

Lahiru Thirimanne, playing at number 4, a place that was long reserved for retired batting great Mahela Jayawardene did not last long, as he was caught at mid-on off.

Thirimanne stepped out to force a shot over mid on but hit it straight to the hands of Zulfiqar Babar to walk back to the pavillion with just eight runs before his name.