Muttiah Muralitharan's late knock proved crucial to Sri Lanka on Thursday as it pulled off a 36-run victory in the first limited-overs international against Pakistan, to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Chasing a competitive 233 runs to win, Pakistan was precariously placed on 134-8 when tailenders Umar Gul and Mohammad Aamer shared a stubborn 62-run stand that threatened Sri Lanka's total at Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium.
The resistance ended when Aamer was run out for 23 and medium pace bowler Lasith Malinga bowled Gul for 33, allowing Sri Lanka to win the match with five overs to spare.
Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara said that his team had become complacent and relaxed after gaining an early advantage but was relieved to secure the victory.
"This is one game we can look back and say that it was a proper team effort," he said. "I am very proud to have such depth in talent and ability in the dressing room."
Gul was Pakistan's top-scorer after a spell in which he faced 21 balls with six boundaries.
Thilan Thushara was the pick of the Sri Lanka bowlers returning figures of 3-29 while Muralitharan, who came back to the side after missing the three-match test series because of injury, had 2-46 and bagged the player-of-the-match title.
Batting first, Sri Lanka's top order struggled on a Dambulla pitch that provided assistance to seam bowlers. However, a quick 32 from 15 balls by Muralitharan helped swell Sri Lanka's total to 232 as he hit four boundaries and the only six of the Sri Lanka innings.
"I take a bit of serious batting because runs are important at the end of the day," Muralitharan said.
Anjelo Mathews was top-scorer for the hosts with 43 runs.
It was a disappointing effort by the Pakistan batsmen, who have yet to win a game in their tour of Sri Lanka. After losing the test series 2-0, they also lost a 50-over warm-up game to Sri Lanka A by 15 runs before the ODI series.
Pakistan captain Younis Khan blamed poor batting for his team's defeat.
"In the whole test series and in the first one-dayer, partnerships were not there. It's all about partnerships," Younis said. "We had only one and suddenly we were close (to winning)."
"At the moment we are lacking the basics. If we do the basics well we can come back in the series," Younis added.
The average first innings total in Dambulla day games has been 175 runs and that looked to be the case again after Sri Lanka were restricted for 173 for seven in the 45th over before Muralitharan hit out.
