Angelo Mathews won the hurl for Sri Lanka and chose to bat first. Kusal Perera lost his wicket off the second bundle of the innings without scoring, conveying Thirimanne to the wrinkle. Together with the accomplished Dilshan the pair put on 109 rushes to get Sri Lanka out of inconvenience. Dilshan came to his fifty preceding losing his wicket when he was rocked the bowling alley by Iman Wasim. Thirimanne went ahead to stay the innings with a splendid 90 off 126 balls, however lost his wicket at a pivotal time in the 42nd over when Sri Lanka required speeding up. Pakistan rocked the bowling alley well towards the last overs to limit Sri Lanka to 256/9, subsequent to being on course for a much bigger score. Mohammad Irfan was the top wicket taker for Pakistan, finishing with figures of 3/50.