Opener Tillakaratne Dilshan hit his 13th one-day century and the second against Pakistan to help Sri Lanka reach 4-280 in the second ODI at the Pallekele International Stadium on Saturday.
The 35-year-old former Sri Lanka captain smashed 11 fours and a six for his knock of 119 that came off 139 deliveries.
It was his third ODI century of the year.
Sri Lanka abandoned the experiment of opening with captain Mahela Jayawardene and instead Upul Tharanga opened the innings with Dilshan.
Tharanga added 37 runs for the first wicket before being caught behind off the bowling of Sohail Tanvir.
Dilshan was involved in a 47-run partnership for the second wicket with Kumar Sangakkara and a 70-run stand with Dinesh Chandimal for the third wicket.
The third wicket partnership was broken when Shahid Afridi trapped Chandimal leg before.
Dilshan’s half-century came off 57 balls and the century in 120 deliveries when he pulled Umar Gul to midwicket.
Jayawadene’s presence in the middle order rather than its top was useful and he was able to steady the ship and handled Pakistan’s formidable spin attack cleverly.
Jayawardene reached his 67th half-century in style by reverse sweeping Saeed Ajmal for four but was bowled the very next ball.
His 53 came off 45 deliveries with eight well-executed boundaries.
The fourth wicket partnership between Jayawardene and Dilshan was worth 86 runs and came off 88 deliveries.
Sri Lanka made no changes to the side that lost the first ODI on Thursday by six wickets while left arm seamer Rahat Ali made his debut for Pakistan, replacing Mohammad Sami who was injured.
Pakistan leads the five match series 1-0.