Asif benefited from a damp pitch early on

Pakistan's Mohammad Asif took a maiden five-wicket haul to restrict Sri Lanka to 267-8 on day one of the second Test.

Paceman Asif struck early on to reduce the hosts to 61-3 after Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq won the toss.

Kumar Sangakkara (79) and Thilan Samaraweera (65) rescued blushes by putting on 81 for the fourth wicket.

But spinner Danish Kaneria made Sangakkara one of his three victims before Asif bowled Samaraweera and had Malinga Bandara (43) caught behind.

Inzamam decided to bowl first on a damp pitch and got immediate results with the ball seaming wildly.

Opener Upul Tharanga was out for 10, Sanath Jayasuriya - in his final Test - was bowled after hitting Umar Gul for a six and a four.

And Mahela Jayawardene edged to Imran Farhat at second slip after scoring four.

Sangakkara and Samaraweera set about redressing the balance in fine style, with Sangakkara taking just 59 balls for his 20th Test half-century.

He was out when he tried to drive Kaneria and instead got an inside edge which looped to Faisal Iqbal.

Bandara enjoyed some luck to make a career-best score having been dropped early and later ruled not out by TV umpire Asoka de Silva when he appeared run out at 10.

If we had bowled first on that I'd like to think we'd have bowled them out by now Trevor Penney Sri Lanka's assistant coach

Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf returned to the side after missing the drawn first test with injury and replaced Shoaib Malik, out because of an illness.

All-rounder Shahid Afridi was dropped to make way for paceman Rao Ifthikar.

Sri Lanka omitted pacer Dilhara Fernando and recalled Nuwan Kulasekera.

In a pre-match ceremony, Jayasuriya cut a cake made in the shape of a cricket pitch.

Asif said he had extra motivation to include Jayasuriya among his victims.

"I saw Jayasuriya's comments on the internet where he said he was looking for a good finish in his last Test," said the pace bowler.

"I was determined not to let him have his way."

Sri Lanka's assistant coach Trevor Penney said: "If we had bowled first on that I'd like to think we'd have bowled them out by now."

He paid tribute to his fourth-wicket pair, adding: "The way the ball moved around in the morning we could have been bowled out by tea time.

"Sangakkara and Samaraweera really played well to get us out of a hole."