Lahiri holed a 20-feet birdie putt on the last hole for a three-under-par 68 to emerge as the second round leader on 10-under-par 132 in the RM 1.3 million (approximately USD 410,000) Asian Tour event.
Fellow Indian SSP Chowrasia brought home a card of one-under 71 and was lying third at six-under 136 with Tour rookie Cameron Smith of Australia shooting 66 to be in second spot at the Seri Selangor Golf Club.
A total of 21 players will resume their rounds at 7.30am on Saturday.
Among other Indians, Jyoti Randhawa (69) moved to tied 17th at two-under, while Arjun Atwal (69) playing in Asia after a long time made amends for his first round of 74 with a 69 and was tied 38th alongside Rashid Khan (70) at one-over 143. Chiragh Kumar (70-74) was tied 54th while Digvijay Singh (72-74), Sujjan Singh (76-72), Manav Jaini (73-75) and Rahil Gangjee (73-75) were all tied at 90th and looked certain to miss the cut as was Himmat Rai (77-74).
"I was overthinking today and had 100 things going on in my mind. But on the seventh hole, we were held up a little bit by the group in front and that gave me the opportunity to clear my head," said the 27-year-old Lahiri.
"I started talking to my caddie about inane things and when we were ready to play again, it cleared my head. So that's what I will need to do the next time I overthink on the golf course," he smiled.