Imam, who remained unbeaten in the 50th minute, watched from the other end as Agha Salman ensured Pakistan’s victory by hitting the first ball from Jayasuriya for a mid-off boundary.

Shakeel, whose debut hundred gave Pakistan a crucial 149-run lead, was adjudged the best player of the match.

The way Saud and Agha played completely changed the game, Babar said, referring to their 177-run partnership that helped Pakistan score 461 in the first innings.

It’s not easy to bat in Galle but the way Saud is playing is just great.

Sri Lanka could not justify their decision to play in the first innings and reached 312 in the first innings thanks to Dhananjaya de Silva’s 122.

We needed to bat back but we lost a few wickets, said host captain Dimuth Karunaratne.

Overall, the bowlers played well but we missed a few catches and it cost us dearly. We have to assess what went wrong and come back again. The teams move to Colombo on Monday for the second and final Test.