A wet outfield, the result of heavy overnight rain, had delayed the start of the day's play by half an hour and with the threat of rain looming over the final day, Sri Lanka played a gambit, pushing Kithuruwan Vithanage - a positive strokeplayer - to open the innings with Karunaratne.
Junaid Khan came close to taking a wicket off the first ball of the day, when a punch from Karunaratne flew close to Azhar Ali at mid-off before running away for four, and an outside edge saved the batsman from getting lbw two balls later.
In the first innings, Vithanage had fallen attempting an unnecessary reverse sweep at a crucial juncture. In the second, he did the job he was sent out to do, starting with the first ball off Junaid which was confidently flicked over midwicket for four.
By the time the lead spin pair of Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar was introduced into the attack, Sri Lanka had raced away to 28 off four overs, with Vithanage contributing 18. In Babar's second over, Vithanage smacked the bowler for a towering six straight down the ground and followed it up with a slog sweep for six over midwicket off the next ball. Two deliveries later, he holed out to the midwicket fielder attempting a similar shot, the only difference being that the ball took the toe-end of the bat this time.
Off the next ball, the first of Yasir Shah's over, Kumar Sangakkara was done in a delivery that spun in towards him and took a deflection off the glove to short leg. The wickets would have raised Pakistan's hope of making Sri Lanka's chase a little tougher but Mathews and Karunaratne restored calm at the crease with their partnership.
There were a few chances for Pakistan with run-out chances created but the pair motored along smoothly, at a scoring rate of 5.46. Karunaratne fell after scoring two balls after scoring a fifty of 55 deliveries but Sri Lanka were only 32 runs adrift of the target at the time and Mathews' unbeaten 43 off 57 deliveries ensured there were no further hiccups for Sri Lanka.
The third Test of the series will be played in Pallekele from July 3 to 7.
Source - ESPNcricinfo
