Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq fell just short of his sixth Test century but his team clung on to their slim hopes of salvaging the second Test against Sri Lanka after a stirring rearguard action in Dubai on Saturday.
Pakistan resumed the fourth day's play trailing Sri Lanka by 91 runs with seven second-innings wickets in hand but Misbah's dour 97 and wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed's defiant unbeaten 70 powered them to 330 for seven when heavy drizzle forced an early close.
Ahmed and Saeed Ajmal (seven), whose bowling on the final day could prove crucial, will return on Sunday hoping to stretch the team's 107-run lead and hope for rain on a day with a cloudy forecast.
Resuming on 132 for three, the responsibility for erasing the deficit was on two of Pakistan's senior batsmen, Misbah and Younis Khan.
The duo adopted contrasting approaches with Younis' fluency complimented by Misbah's doggedness which frustrated the Sri Lankans for nearly an hour.
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