Pallekelle: Young all-rounder Thisara Perera followed his four wickets with 75 off 86 balls as Sri Lanka seized control of the final Test against Pakistan in Pallekele on Tuesday.
Pakistan, seeking a series-levelling win, paid for sloppy fielding as Sri Lanka recovered from a middle-order collapse to make 337 in their first innings on the third day.
The tourists, trailing by 111 runs, were 27/1 in their second knock by stumps, losing opener Taufeeq Umar for four, leg-before to seamer Nuwan Kulasekara.
Sri Lanka were only 10 runs ahead when they lost their seventh wicket, but Perera and Kulasekara (33) snatched the initiative by adding 84 for the eighth.
Perera, a 23-year-old from Colombo playing only his sixth Test, smashed four fours and three sixes in his maiden half-century after being dropped twice on 11 and 22.
Perera, whose four wickets in the first innings engineered Pakistan’s collapse for 226, was last man out when he was bowled by left-arm seamer Junaid Khan.
Junaid finished with 5-70, his second successive five-wicket haul, while off-spinner Saeed Ajmal claimed 3-66.
Pakistan bounced back in the post-lunch session as Ajmal grabbed two quick wickets to leave Sri Lanka on 204/6, but the Lankans still made 133 runs for the last four wickets. (AFP)