Paceman Shoaib Akhtar was soon among the wickets

Sri Lanka's Thilan Samaraweera was made to wait for his fourth century as bad light ended play early on day one of the first Test against Pakistan.

The tourists were 233-7 at the close in Faisalabad, with Samaraweera facing 230 balls to make 97 not out.

It was a vital contribution after they had been reduced to 9-3 at the start.

Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami took three wickets each but Sanath Jayasuriya (38) and Jehan Mubarak (34) helped Samaraweera mount a recovery.

Jayasuriya enjoyed slices of luck when he was dropped on 27 and 32 off Abdul Razzaq but passed 6,000 Test runs before finally being taken at cover.

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Only Aravinda de Silva (6,361) has scored more runs in Tests for Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka opted to bat first after winning the toss against a Pakistan side showing three changes to that beaten in last Saturday's one-day final.

Batsmen Imran Farhat and Asim Kamal were recalled, along with leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, but the initial focus was on Shoaib and Sami's efforts with the new ball.

Shoaib only needed three balls to make an impact on the game as a full length delivery trapped Marvan Atapattu lbw without scoring.

Samaraweera was equal to both seam and spin bowling

And he struck again when Kumar Sangakkara edged a catch to Farhat at third slip after making only two.

Mahela Jayawardene was defeated by an away swinger from Sami, the last ball of his second over, and keeper Moin Khan made no mistake.

But they could not find a way past the orthodox technique of Test specialist Samaraweera, who shared stands of 68 and 65 with Jaysuriya and Mubarak.

The latter's dismissal, caught by Inzamam off Sami, was quickly followed by that of Romesh Kaluwitharana, who gave a return catch to Kaneria after making only four.

But Chaminda Vaas made a useful 22 before he mis-hit a catch to mid-on off Shoaib and Rangana Herath hit six fours in an unbeaten 28 off 33 balls before a halt was called with only 78 of the 90 scheduled overs bowled.

Samaraweera needed a runner during the final session after suffering from cramp.

Pakistan: Inzamam-ul-Haq (Capt), Yousuf Youhana, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Moin Khan (Wkt), Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Danish Kaneria.