Babar Azam scored a century for the hosts and, with man of the match Shoaib Malik, helped Pakistan post a big total that the visitors rarely looked like matching, despite some stubborn resistance from their later order batsmen,
Both teams were radically changed from the sides that finished the last test on the same ground on Tuesday.
For Pakistan only skipper Sarfraz Ahmed, batsmen Haris Sohail and Babar Azam, and pace bowler Hasan Ali survived, whilst Mohammad Amir was ruled out of the whole series due to injury. Sri Lanka too rang the changes, with only Chadimal, Dickwella, Perera and Pradeep remaining.
It was Sri Lanka who won the toss and decided to field on what looked to be a perfect batting wicket.
However, despite Gamage getting the early wicket of Pakistani opener Shehzad, who fell without scoring, Zaman and Azam built a strong platform for the hosts. Whilst Zaman fell for 43 and then Hafeez for 32, Azam continued to steadily accumulate runs, reaching his 10th ODI century, before going for 103.
However, it was his partner in a 139 run stand for the 4th wicket, Shoaib Malik, who really gave the Pakistan innings impetus, hitting 81 off just 61 balls, including 2 sixes. And with Imad Wassim and Hasan Ali contributing some late runs, the final Pakistani total of 292/6 was a tough ask for Sri Lanka to chase.
Sri Lanka got off to a poor start, losing their first 5 wickets for just 67 runs, as they struggled against the Pakistan pace attack. Lahiru Thirimanne tried to mount a fightback with a half century (53), and a 68 run 8th wicket partnership between Akila Dananjaya (50 not out) and Jeffrey Vandersay (25) provided some late order resistance but, in truth, Sri Lanka were also well behind the asking rate and fell some way short at the end, reaching 209/8.
The two teams now head to Abu Dhabi for the second match in the series on Monday, where Sri Lanka will be looking to put up a stiffer fight than they managed today.