Sri Lanka have never won a home series against Pakistan, but they took huge strides towards rectifying that statistic with an utterly dominant performance with ball and bat on the first day at the P Sara Oval. Pakistan were coming off an abject batting display in Galle, but they sunk even lower here, being bundled out for an embarrassing 90 after winning the toss. Sri Lanka's batsmen, led by captain Kumar Sangakkara, then gave them a batting lesson, easing to 164 for 3, already 74 in front.
The pitch at the P Sara Oval offered some assistance for the bowlers, with the ball doing a bit in the air and off the seam on the first morning, but by no means was batting as difficult as the Pakistan batsmen made it out to be. Sri Lanka's bowlers, though, made the most of the conditions: Nuwan Kulasekara, Thilan Thushara and Angelo Mathews pitched it in the corridor, got movement in the air and off the pitch, and that combination was far too lethal for Pakistan's diffident top order. Kulasekara was the pick of the lot, wrecking the top order and finishing with well-deserved figures of 4 for 21, while the rest offered excellent support.
