Sri Lanka hit back with a thoroughly professional performance to square the series. Dilshan set things up with a magnificent unbeaten ton, well supported by Chandimal and Jayawardene, before Perera pushed the score beyond Pakistan's reach.

Result: Sri Lanka won by 76 runs

Teams:

Sri Lanka
M Dilshan, WU Tharanga, KC Sangakkara†, LD Chandimal, DPMD Jayawardene*, HDRL Thirimanne, AD Mathews, NLTC Perera, HMRKB Herath, KMDN Kulasekara, SL Malinga

Pakistan
Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq*, Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Sarfraz Ahmed†, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Tanvir, Rahat Ali 

Sri Lanka innings 

Just one change for Pakistan from the first ODI, as paceman Mohammad Sami suffered an injury to his thumb, presenting youngster Rahat Ali with an opportunity to impress on a Pallakele track that has flattened out since the last game. Sri Lanka changed only their batting order, with Jayawardene dropping down. 

The shuffle proved fruitful for Sri Lanka, who set the tone early in the innings. Both Dilshan and Tharanga, who was playing in his favoured opening position, cashed in from the off as they collected boundaries off Gul and Tanvir in the powerplay overs. Tanvir gained his revenge, as he had Tharanga caught behind for 18. 

Sangakkara strode out to the middle and glanced his second delivery for four off Tanvir. Pakistan had a mediocre day in the field, as they missed two run-out chances, the easier being a throw by Umar Akmal to the wrong end after a good bit of fielding initially. Dilshan continued to score freely, and picked up boundaries all around the wicket. The bowling powerplay was taken by in the 15th over, with Misbah opting to utilise spinners Ajmal and Hafeez. The decision initially paid off, as the all-rounder, who often has lefties shaking in their spikes had Sangakkara caught and bowled for 18, leaving Sri Lanka 84/2 off 16 overs. 

Promising youngster Dinesh Chandimal joined Dilshan, and as the two put on 70 runs in 15 overs.
Chandimal's attacking instincts got him in trouble against the spinners a couple of times, but a fired -up Afridi, who was more than willing to give Captain and team-mates an earful for their lacklustre fielding effort, trapped him LBW to leave Sri Lanka 154/3. Chandimal scored 32 and more than ably supported his more aggressive partner, who brought up his half-century off 60 balls. 

Mahela Jayawardene and Dilshan then joined forces to provide the acceleration at the perfect time, with Jayawrdene using his trademark reverse-sweeps and touch play to drive the innings with 53 off just 45 balls and was the last wicket to fall, as Perera played a blistering cameo of 24 off 14, including two fours and two sixes.

None of the Pakistani bowlers had a vintage day, with Hafeez (1/30 off 8 overs) and Ajmal (1/49 off 10 overs) being the pick on a flat wicket offering little assistance. A greater concern will be the poor team fielding effort, and yet another drop by Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps. 

However, it was ultimately an in-form Dilshan however who provided the backbone to the innings, as he ended not-out on 119, with Sri Lanka posting a significant 280, requiring Pakistan to achieve the highest score in a chase against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. 

Fall of wickets 

1-37 Tharanga, 7.1 ov, 
2-84 Sangakkara, 16.1 ov
3-154 Chandimal, 30.6 ov
4-240 Jayawardene, 45.4 ov 


Pakistan innings 

The Pakistan innings began quietly, as Hafeez and Azhar aimed to settle - the first two overs didn't yield a run, but more importantly no wickets were lost. The decision to select Azhar Ali, a stodgy test batsman, has yielded much criticism, further exacerbated by his failure in the first ODI. However, he came alive in the third over, replicating his Test form. Shades of The Oval test during the tour of England as he hit out in a bid to complete his century in 2011, he scored the majority of his runs in boundaries, including a consecutive boundaries off Kulasekara. 

He lost his opening partner Hafeez for 14 to a leading edge as Perera completed a brilliant caught and bowled, diving full length, leaving Pakistan 48/1 off 10 overs. The much-maligned Younis Khan joined Azhar Ali and the two have shared some big partnerships in Test matches, but Khan failed to make his mark as he was out for just four, including -a reprieve from keeper Sangakkara. His place in the side is now surely as precarious as it has ever been.

Captain Misbah-ul-Haq came out, to try and drive the middle overs, but after a bright start slowed and was out lbw that man Perera, who hadn't taken a backward step since his batting cameo. Perera had bagged his third wicket, leaving Pakistan 127/3. 

More importantly, the experienced duo Misbah and Younis had added just 31 runs from 48 balls and had lost their wickets after consuming delivers to settle down. 

It was yet again left to Umar Akmal to carry the pressure of bringing the run rate down, but lasted just 11 deliveries as he was on the receiving end of a shocker from the umpire Reiffel, who has had a forgettable series to date, leaving Pakistan 139/4 as Sangakkara took the catch off Perera. Shahid Afridi walked to the crease with the required rate pushing above 9. The batting powerplay was taken at the mandatory stage, and Pakistan needed some big overs if they were to get back in the game.

Azhar began to show some more aggressive intent, moving to 96 with a sublime push through the covers. To everyone's disappointment though, he was bowled next ball by Kulasekara, the bowler breaking the leg stump with a perfect yorker. Afridi knew what he needed to do, but failed due to a magnificent diving catch from Sangakarra. With over 100 needed from the last 12 overs, it was all but over for the visitors. 

Sohail Tanvir holed out to deep square leg, handing Perera his fifth wicket, and he soon made it six when Gul was dismissed LBW. 6-44 in 10 overs was a fantastic effort by Perera, and the Pakistani batsmen had no answer to his incisive spell. Malinga removed Ajmal, before Kulasekara ended Sarfraz Ahmed's useful resistance, to hand Sri Lanka a 76 run victory.

Fall of wickets 

1-48 (Mohammad Hafeez, 10.1 ov)
2-78 (Younis Khan, 16.5 ov)
3-127 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 29.1 ov)
4-139 (Umar Akmal, 33.2 ov)
5-157 (Azhar Ali, 36.3 ov)
6-165 (Shahid Afridi, 37.4 ov)
7-170 (Sohail Tanvir, 40.1 ov)
8-197 (Umar Gul, 44.4 ov)
9-204 (Saeed Ajmal, 45.6 ov)
10-204 (Sarfraz Ahmed, 46.21 ov)


Summary

So Sri Lanka hit back with a thoroughly professional performance to square the series. Dilshan set things up with a magnificent unbeaten ton, well supported by Chandimal and Jayawardene, before Perera pushed the score beyond Pakistan's reach. It was a familiar story for Pakistan's run chase, a solid start but the middle order simply weren't able to push on once the required rate increased, and wickets were lost at regular intervals. 

Azhar Ali deserves tremendous praise for a fantastic innings. He proved his critics wrong, playing some exquisite shots and was unfortunate to miss out on a deserved century. Younis Khan once again failed, and after Azhar's performance, the management need to consider replacing YK with Asad Shafiq for the next game. Both Azhar and Shafiq are talented youngsters, and they are capable of taking over from the senior players, as Azhar Ali proved today. Pakistan will also need to think about the balance of the team, and whether or not they need an extra batsman. At the moment, they don't look comfortable chasing anything above 250.

A special mention for Thisara Perera, who took 6 wickets in his 10 overs, after a useful 14 ball cameo at the end of the Sri Lankan innings. The two teams now move on to Colombo for the final 3 games, with the series is finely poised at one apiece.