Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara hailed a fine team effort after his side edged ahead with a 36-run victory in Dambulla.

The visitors started well and reduced Sri Lanka to 173 for seven, but Angelo Mathews scored a quick 43 with Nuwan Kulasekara (16) and Muttiah Muralitharan (32) also making useful contributions as the home side finished on a respectable 232 for nine.

Pakistan's chase was undermined by another batting collapse engineered by Sri Lanka's fast bowlers Kulasekara and Thilan Thushara.

From 29 for one, the visitors slipped to 95 for six and were effectively out of the game until Umar Gul (33) provided a late flourish.

Together with Mohammad Aamer (23), Gul put on 62 runs for the ninth wicket, the duo hitting 55 runs off the five batting powerplay overs.

It left the visitors needing only 38 off the last six overs, but Mahela Jayawardene broke the stand by running out Aamer.

"We probably let it get away from us a bit at the end," Sangakkara said.

"Maybe we just got a bit complacent and relaxed our grip a bit.

"Overall, the guys did a great job, especially chipping in with the bat.

"Everyone played their part, but especially Murali who came in with that whirlwind knock and Mathews who played with a lot of maturity.

"The bowlers were in top form, bowling in the right areas and getting the wickets that we needed.

"This is one game that you can look back on and say this was a proper team effort."

Sangakkara is confident his batsmen will improve as the series progresses.

"We have a great batting line-up, but we have got to trust ourselves and play to our strengths.

"We shouldn't be worried about wickets and what the bowlers are doing as long as we play to our strengths and to our gameplan.

"Sometimes when you come in to bat on this track you think it's a test, but our guys are more than capable of doing the job we need.

It's all about numbers

"I'm very proud to have such depth of talent and ability in the dressing room."

Pakistan captain Younus Khan lamented his team's batting collapse and attributed the defeat to a lack of partnerships.

"It was a close game and at one stage we looked like we would win, but that run out changed all that," Younus said.

"Today we missed a few opportunities in the field as well, but our problem has been the batting.

"We again collapsed and were not able to put on any partnerships.

"We had only one decent stand and that came towards the end. Perhaps one at the top would have changed the outcome of this game."

Younus, however, believed his team could turn things around.

"There are some positives we can take from this game," he said.

"Gul was good with the bat and he's a fantastic player who always delivers no matter the situation.

"Aamer was great on his debut game and he has given us some more options.

"At the moment we lack in the basics and if we could work on that we would do well.

"I am a positive person so we will put this game behind us and hopefully come hard at them in the next match."