Pakistan's 20-year-old opener Tayyab Arif made a rollicking first impression in Tests as he slammed a 51-ball 57 on debut. The visitors had three other half-centurions - Babar Azam, Mohammad Taha and Saud Shakeel, as they finished the opening day on 281/5 against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi.

Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis hoped his quicks could exploit an uncharacteristically green-looking Rawalpindi surface, only for appearance to fool him a touch. The assistance wasn't perhaps on expected levels for Mendis and his bowlers were erratic in a first session that was dominated by the home side. That came via an uber-confident first-timer, Arif, who punished bad lengths confidently. Pakistan unleashed youth up-top - 20-year-old Arif was accompanied by 22-year-old Azan Awais, who didn't fear taking risks of his own. The openers deflated Sri Lanka by smashing 59 runs in the first 10 overs.

By the 15th over, Arif reached a 46-ball half-century with a four off Lahiru Kumara. An over later however, Sri Lanka found their first opening as Awais drove away from his body and edge one behind off Milan Rathnayake. In the first over after drinks, Asitha Fernando got Arif to edge one behind to Mendis and depart for a 51-ball 57. That became the script for the rest of the day: Pakistan batters got to fifties, and Sri Lanka bowlers stopped them in their tracks.

One debutant's exit paved the way for the arrival of another - Mohammad Taha, who too started with a fifty. His knock though, was in contrast to Arif's: a lot more measured and circumspect. He and his captain Babar Azam dragged Pakistan to Lunch without further damage.

Pakistan scored runs at 4.5 an over in the morning session, and Azam gave them a similar start in the post-Lunch period. He hit three glorious cover drives - two along the ground and one over the top, for three fours off Dilshan Madushanka in the first over of the second session. A couple of overs later, he got to his 35th Test fifty, off only 54 balls. But Madushanka induced an outside edge from round the stumps, giving Mendis another catch behind.

Saud Shakeel arrived next in the line of Pakistan's half-centurions for the day. He batted on and finished unbeaten on 57, while adding a 68-run stand with Taha. Pakistan's scoring rate dropped in this period as they looked to consolidate the start they got. Taha and Shakeel took Pakistan to 214/3 at Tea, with 77 coming in the session off 23 overs. Once again after a break, a personal milestone came up: Taha got to his maiden Test fifty. But once again, that also led to a dismissal soon. Taha fell to Sonal Dinusha's left-arm spin, his attempted sweep ballooning up to the first slip fielder Dhananjaya de Silva.

As light began to fade, Sri Lanka tried to dig their heels in further. Asitha Fernando took out Salman Agha quickly but Shakeel pushed back with three fours off a Madushanka in an over. In the same over, he also raised his half-century. After just two balls of the 68th over, players had to go off due bad light. There was no further play possible after that.

Brief Scores: Pakistan 281/5 (Tayyab Arif 57, Saud Shakeel 57*, Mohammad Taha 51, Babar Azam 50; Asitha Fernando 2-64) vs Sri Lanka