Sri Lanka are determined to prevent a Pakistan resurgence as they seek their first Test series win in three years when the second match starts in Colombo on Saturday.
The hosts will start as firm favourites at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) after thumping Pakistan by 209 runs with a day to spare in the first Test in Galle to take the lead in the three-match series.
Sri Lanka have not won a Test series since defeating New Zealand 2-0 at home in August 2009 and have struggled to make an impact after world bowling record holder Muttiah Muralitharan quit the five-day format in 2010.
The islanders have lost five series and drawn three since the success against New Zealand - twice allowing the opposition to bounce back after winning the opening encounter.
In 2010, Sri Lanka beat India in the first match in Galle - Muralitharan's final Test appearance - before losing the third game at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo.
Then in March-April this year, the hosts triumphed over England at Galle, only to see Andrew Strauss' men win the second and final Test at the P. Sara Oval and retain their number one ranking.
Veteran skipper Mahela Jayawardene was wary of slipping on the proverbial banana skin again.
"We have to be positive," he said.
"There are two more matches to go and we need to put the Galle match behind and keep improving. We need to be a lot more consistent with bowling, batting and fielding.
"A lot of hard work is required going into the next Test. We need to handle the conditions at SSC very well. We need to try and get on top of the opposition and keep the pressure."
The SSC has proved a happy hunting ground for Sri Lanka, where they have not lost a Test since 2004, and have won six of their last 11 matches.
The hosts are likely to play an unchanged side unless seamer Nuwan Pradeep, who took one wicket in Galle, is replaced by either Thisara Perera or Dilhara Fernando.
Fernando was drafted into the squad for the second Test in place of left-arm seamer Chanaka Welegedara, who missed the Galle match due to a shoulder injury and was subsequently ruled out for the rest of the series.
Pakistan, meanwhile, will welcome back captain Misbah-ul Haq, who was banned for the Galle Test after his team's slow over-rate during the final one-dayer in Colombo on June 18.
The tourists need Misbah's calming influence as skipper and also his presence in the middle-order after they were shot out for 100 and 300 in Galle on a spin-friendly pitch.
Pakistan were let down by poor umpiring at Galle - the Decision Review System (DRS) is not being used in the series - but they have themselves to blame for their first defeat in 10 Tests.
The batting failed spectacularly in the first innings and only veteran Younis Khan (87) and young Asad Shafiq (80) provided any real resistance in the second.
Mohammad Hafeez, who led Pakistan in Misbah's absence, said the second innings performance in Galle gave him confidence the tourists would do well in the remaining two Tests.
"I liked the way the boys fought it out on the last day when the conditions were tough," he said.
"These are positive signs for the team. All is not lost yet."
Pakistan will once again bank on their spinners, who claimed 11 of the 14 Sri Lankan wickets to fall to the bowlers at Galle, with prolific off-spinner Saeed Ajmal picking up seven in the match.
Pakistan (from): Misbah-ul Haq (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Mohammad Ayub, Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Mohammad Sami, Faisal Iqbal, Junaid Khan, Afaq Raheem, Aizaz Cheema.
Sri Lanka (from): Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Tharanga Paranavitana, Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Prasanna Jayawardene, Suraj Randiv, Rangana Herath, Nuwan Kulasekara, Nuwan Pradeep, Thisara Perera, Jeevan Mendis, Dilhara Fernando.

The international and first class cricketing career of Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria, who played 61 Tests and 18 ODIs, is virtually over with the ICC on Wednesday directing its member nations to enforce the life ban imposed by the ECB.
The ICC Board during its meet in Kuala Lumpur unanimously acknowledged the lifetime ban imposed on Kaneria by ECB for his role in a spot-fixing scandal and urged its members to enforce the verdict to the fullest extent.
"Following the recent decision of the ECB's Disciplinary Panel in the anti-corruption proceedings brought against Danish Kaneria and Mervyn Westfield, the ICC Board unanimously acknowledged and agreed that the ICC and every Full, Associate and Affiliate Member should recognise and respect the sanctions imposed by the ECB's Disciplinary Panel on those players," ICC said in a statement.
Kaneria was banned for life by ECB last week after being found guilty on two charges of corruption in the Mervyn Westfield spot-fixing scandal. The 31-year-old Pakistani leg-spinner has said he will appeal against the verdict.
Grappling with the problem of spot-fixing, the ICC also emphasised on the need to remain extra vigilant in the area of anti-corruption and also maintain high level of education.
"Following the recommendations made in the De Speville report as to the capability of the ICC's ACSU, Sir Ronnie told the ICC Board that the ACSU had increased its resources. He also repeated the desire for Governments to put in place criminal legislation to protect against deliberately under-performing for personal gain and noted that progress had been made in this area in Australia," the statement said.
ICC also said that both Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), who are yet to implement a domestic anti-corruption code, will have such a code in place by 15 August, 2012.
After its two-day meeting, the ICC Board also said "there should be continued and consistent emphasis placed on the promotion of the three formats of international cricket, particularly 50-over cricket."
"...in conjunction with the changes in playing regulations, there should be further consideration of the branding of ODI cricket, while being cognisant of the high level of interest in 50-over cricket in many countries.
The ICC Board also approved the recommended regulation changes in 50-over format including that "Powerplays be restricted to the first block of 10 overs and a batting Powerplay of five overs to be completed before the start of the 41st over."
It also recommended that "a maximum of four fielders to be allowed outside the 30-yard circle in the non-Powerplay overs and the number of permitted short pitched balls should increase from one per over to two.
"There was also no objection to the introduction of Day/Night Test cricket dependent on the agreement of both participating teams," the statement said.
The ICC Board also said that the informal discussions surrounding the ICC Independent Governance Review and the role of the ICC will continue and a further detailed debate will take place at the ICC's next Board meeting in October in Sri Lanka.
"They also continued the important debate on the protection and promotion of international cricket within a changed landscape that is showing a growing number of domestic professional T20 leagues," the statement said.

Australia great Shane Warne has said the "ego" of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) forced Kevin Pietersen's retirement from all limited overs internationals. Pietersen wanted to give up 50-over one-day internationals (ODIs) while still playing Twenty20 internationals.
However, the ECB said the South Africa-born shotmaker, who remains a Test match cricketer, could only play in both shortened formats or none at all.
As a result Pietersen, the Man-of-the-Tournament when England won the World Cup Twenty20 in the Caribbean two years ago, is set to miss the defence of their title in Sri Lanka this September. He will also be absent from the upcoming one-day series against Australia and Warne, who captained Pietersen at county side Hampshire, said England had damaged themselves.
"Any team that hasn't got Kevin Pietersen is significantly weaker," Warne told the Independent. "He's a match-winner so that's a big loss. It staggers me and I'm very surprised that the ECB didn't try and negotiate that better, drop their egos and say, okay we understand this, we want to keep our best players playing all the time."
He added: "I think it's just a bit too much ego for my liking from the ECB. Who wouldn't want Pietersen in your side? He's a match-winner and he puts bums on seats because people love watching him play. His attitude rubs off on the rest of the players. So to me it's a huge loss. More people might give up one-day cricket or they might give up Twenty20," added the legendary legspinner, who contrasted Pietersen's situation with that of Michael Clarke, the Australia captain. "Michael Clarke's given up Twenty20 in Australia because he can't play all three forms at that level, but you can't imagine Australia dropping him and saying don't worry about one-day cricket, just stick to Tests."
England play Australia in the first of five one-day internationals at Lord's on Friday. Without Pietersen, an opener in limited overs cricket, England saw his spot filled by Ian Bell, who made a hundred and a fifty, and Alex Hales, who struck 99, in ODI and Twenty20 wins respectively over the West Indies this month.

A West Bengal court Friday rejected the bail plea of Asiad gold medallist runner Pinki Pramanik, accused of being a male, and sent the athlete to judicial custody till July 12 for alleged rape.
"The court of chief judicial magistrate, Barasat, (North 24-Parganas) Anita Mathur, rejected the bail plea of Pinki and remanded her to further judicial custody till July 12," the athlete's counsel Tuhin Roy said.
The court also allowed the prosecution plea to take Pramanik for a chromosomal test to conclusively determine her gender.
The athlete has twice undergone gender determination tests in two different government hospitals but on both the occasions the tests were inconclusive.
"In the name of gender test, Pinki is being taken from one hospital to another, which has been causing her mental trauma and physical harassment. We have, therefore, requested the court to decide a particular hospital where adequate facilities are available and tests to determine her gender can be ascertained conclusively," added Roy.
An 11-member medical board consisting of doctors from the government-run SSKM Hospital was constituted and conducted several tests on Pinki June 25. However, due to the lack of facilities, Karyotyping - a choromosomal test - could not be carried out.
The athlete's June 19 test at another government hospital in North 24 Parganas also was inconclusive, following which the athlete was referred to the SSKM.
Pramanik was arrested June 14 and remanded in 14 days' judicial custody by a court June 15 after the athlete's live-in partner, a divorcee and a mother of one, filed a police complaint accusing the athlete of being a male who repeatedly "raped and tortured" her.
Subsequent to the arrest, Pramanik was taken to a private nursing home for a medical check-up where the test reports claimed that the former top notch athlete was indeed a male.
Pramanik, however, claimed innocence and said it was a conspiracy.
Pramanik, who retired from athletics three years ago, won gold in the 4x400 metres relay at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha in Qatar. The runner was a silver medallist at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games the same year.
The Eastern Railway, with which the athlete is a ticket collector, suspended Pramanik June 16 following her remand in judicial custody.