TILLAKARATNE Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara both smashed impressive centuries for Sri Lanka before Pakistan hit back with four late wickets on the fourth day of the second Test in Colombo yesterday. Dilshan hit 121 before his removal in the 70th over, while Sangakkara reached stumps unbeaten on 144 as the hosts closed on 278 for five, still 273 runs behind Pakistan's mammoth first-innings total of 551 for six declared.
Pakistan's hopes of victory appeared to recede as Dilshan and Sangakkara took their second-wicket partnership to 225 runs - a record against this opposition - before Dilshan's dismissal triggered a collapse.
Mahela Jayawardene and Thilan Samaraweera both fell without scoring, while nightwatchman Suraj Randiv fared little better, adding just five before he departed to the last delivery of the day.
On a rain-affected day, Dilshan and Sangakkara picked up where they left off on Monday as they continued to pile on the runs against a largely helpless Pakistan attack.
Their march towards their tons was rarely a troubled one, and Sangakkara duly racked up his 30th Test century - taking him past Don Bradman on the all-time list - in 180 balls.
Dilshan's century was achieved in two fewer deliveries as he became the eighth Sri Lankan to pass 5 000 Test runs, but Junaid Khan finally made the breakthrough after tea, removing Dilshan lbw with a delivery from around the stumps.
Junaid then repeated the trick to remove Jayawardene moments later, before Samaraweera was also removed lbw to Saeed Ajmal.
Randiv became the fourth Sri Lankan to be trapped leg-before inside 16 overs when Abdur Rehman struck with the final ball of the day.

SCORECARD
PAKISTAN 1st innings (o/n 488 for 4)
M. Hafeez b Herath 196
T. Amir c P.- Jayawardene b Mathews 65 A. Ali c Kulasekara b Randiv 157
Y. Khan lbw Herath 32
Misbah-ul-Haq not out 66
Asad Shafiq run- out (Dilshan) 2
Adnan Akmal c Dilshan b Herath 5
Abdur Rehman not out 18
Extras: (lb-5, w-1, nb-4) 10
Total: (for 6 wickets decl’d, off 147 overs) 551
Fall of wicket: 1-78, 2-365, 3-435, 4-486, 5-491, 6-519.
Bowling: K Kulasekara 27-6-84-0, A Mathews 15-1-55-1 (nb-1), N. Pradeep 24-3-103-0 (nb-3, w-1), S. Randiv 31-0-131-1, H. Herath 49-5-164-3, T. Dilshan 1-0-9-0..

SRI LANKA 1st innings
N. Paranavitana c Azhar Ali b Junaid Khan 0
T. Dilshan lbw Junaid Khan 121
K. Sangakkara not out 144
M. Jayawardene lbw b Junaid Khan 0
T. Samaraweera lbw b Saeed Ajmal 0
S. Randiv lbw b Abdur Rehman 0
Extras: (lb-4, b-4) 08
Total: (for 5 wickets, off 85.4 overs) 278
Fall of wicket: 1-11, 2-236, 3-250, 4-259, 5-278.
Bowling: Aziza Cheema 18-5-66-0, Junaid Khan 19-3-56-3, Saeed Ajmal 26-0-77-1, Abdur Rehman 16.4-3-50-1. Mohammad Hafeez 6-0-21-0.