NEW DELHI: Babar Azam ended his long wait for an international century in style, guiding Pakistan to a dominant eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the second ODI on Friday.

His unbeaten 102 off 119 balls helped Pakistan comfortably chase down 289, finishing at 289/2 in 48.2 overs. With the victory, Pakistan sealed the three-match series 2-0, with one game left on Sunday.

Sri Lanka, despite a strong batting surface, could only manage 288/8 after six of their top seven batters failed to convert their starts into big scores.

The series itself was almost called off after a suicide bombing in Islamabad on Tuesday killed 12 people outside a courthouse, just hours before the first ODI in nearby Rawalpindi.

Concerned Sri Lankan players expressed a desire to return home, but Sri Lanka Cricket asked the team to complete the tour after receiving fresh security assurances from the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Babar finally gets 100

Babar entered Friday's match without an international century in 83 innings across all formats - a wait of more than 800 days since his last hundred against Nepal in the 2023 Asia Cup in Multan.

"I had been waiting for this (century) like the fans," Babar said. "I kept the belief up. I got starts in a few games against South Africa too (in the last ODI series) but you only get what you wished when God wants you to. I was trying to spend as much time at the crease."

He dug in well against the spin threat of Wanindu Hasaranga, who finished wicketless with 0-35, but the Sri Lanka seamers couldn't control the wet ball because of dew and consistently missed their lengths.

Babar raised his half-century off 68 balls with only three fours and grew in confidence. He pulled Pramod Madushan to midwicket for a single to complete his much-awaited century off 115 balls with eight fours.

The crowd erupted and chanted "Babar, Babar" to celebrate the end of the drought by Pakistan's premier batter. His 20th ODI century equaled Saeed Anwar's Pakistan ODI record.

The opening pair of Fakhar Zaman (78) and Saim Ayub (33) provided a rollicking start of 77 off 58 balls.

Zaman was dropped twice in the 20s and a third time at fine leg just before his dismissal, a brilliant catch by Janith Liyanage at short midwicket. But by then he'd put on 100 runs with Babar to take the game away from Sri Lanka.

Mohammad Rizwan, unbeaten on 51 off 54 balls, and Babar shared a 112-run stand to the win.

"It's a complete batting performance from us," stand-in captain Salman Ali Agha said. "We had three very good partnerships. It was a 320-330 wicket for us so I was very happy to keep them to 290."

Sri Lanka batters falter

Kamil Mishara (27) in his second ODI and Pathum Nissanka (24) made a decent start of 51 runs for Sri Lanka inside the batting powerplay before Nissanka was run out against the run of play when he tried to go for a third run.

Leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed, who recovered from illness, pegged back the visitors with three wickets. He dismissed Mishara, Kusal Mendis and captain Charith Asalanka and dropped the visitors to 98-4 in the 22nd over.

Sadeera Samarawickrama (42) and Liyanage (54) revived the innings with a 61-run stand until Haris Rauf knocked back the off stump of Samarawickrama in his return spell.

Rauf followed his four-wicket haul in the first ODI with 3-66 including the vital wicket of Kamindu Mendis (44) in the death overs.

Hasaranga's late flurry of 37 off 26 balls helped to set a total that was thought to be about 30-40 runs short of par.

Asalanka rued a ton of missed opportunities, including good starts by batters and dropped catches in the field.

"A lot of wides and extras in the first two overs," he said. "It's really hard to come back on these wickets. After 10-15 overs dew came and things got harder."

(With AP Inputs)