A CLINICAL all-round performance helped Sri Lanka defeat India by four wickets in the final of the triangular one-day series in Dhaka.

A strong effort with the ball from Nuwan Kulasekara and Chanaka Welegedara had left India reeling at 60 for five at one stage, but they recovered well through battling knocks from Suresh Raina (106), Virender Sehwag (42) and Ravindra Jadeja (38) to finish 245 all out.

Sri Lanka lost an early wicket, but Kumar Sangakkara (55) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (49) kick-started the recovery while Mahela Jayawardene hit an unbeaten 71 as they eased to victory inside 49 overs.

Sangakkara won his fifth toss in a row and new-ball bowlers Kulasekara and Welegedara gave Sri Lanka the perfect start by snaring quick wickets and destroying India’s batting line-up. Kulasekara removed Gautam Gambhir for a second-ball duck in his first over in bizarre fashion, a delivery pitched just outside leg stump flicking a protruding edge of the left-hander’s thigh pad and cannoning into the stumps.

Welegedara claimed wickets in successive overs although both Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh – and Mahendra Singh Dhoni later – did themselves little credit with their poor shot selection.

Although Raina went on to reach only his third ODI century, India were bowled out inside their full quota of overs.

Sri Lanka lost Upul Tharanga at the start of their chase, the batsman slashing at a delivery from Ashish Nehra, but only edging to Kohli at second slip.

Dilshan and Sangakkara took up the chase and the two steered Sri Lanka into a dominant position with a 93-run stand for the second wicket almost at a run-a-ball.

India clawed their way back through a fine performance from their spinners, Yuvraj opening the door with the wicket of Dilshan with the first delivery he sent down.

A stand between Thilan Samaraweera and Jayawardene was then broken by Jadeja, the left-arm spinner extracting Samaraweera, while Thilina Kandamy was trapped in front by Harbhajan in his final over as Sri Lanka showed familiar frailties.

Sri Lanka lost two more wickets making for a tight finish, but Jayawardene kept a cool head to see his team across the line.
INDIA innings
V. Sehwag c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 42
G. Gambhir b Kulasekara 0
V. Kohli c Sangakkara b Welegedara 2
Y. Singh c Samaraweera b Welegedara 0
M. Dhoni c Sangakkara b Kulasekara 14
S. Raina b Welegedara 106
R. Jadeja lbw b Dilshan 38
H. Singh lbw b Randiv 11
Z. Khan c Samaraweera b Kulasekara 16
A. Nehra not out 2
S. Sreesanth b Perera 4
Extras: (lb-4, w-6) 10
Total: (all out, 48.2 overs) 245
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-4, 3-16, 4-47, 5-60, 6-166, 7-213, 8-233, 9-237.
Bowling: Kulasekara 10-0-48-4 (w-1), Welegedara 10-1-53-3, Thushara 6-1-26-0 (w-2), Randiv 9-0-47-1(w-1), Perera 8.2-0-49-1(w-1), Dilshan 5-0-18-1(w-1).

SRI LANKA innings
U. Tharanga c Kohli b Nehra 0
T. Dilshan c Dhoni b Yuvraj 49
K. Sangakkara c Sehwag b Harbhajan 55
M. Jayawardene not out 71
T. Samaraweera b Jadeja 27
T. Kandamby lbw b Harbhajan 18
S. Randiv run-out 17
T. Perera not out 6
Extras: (lb-1, w-4, nb-1) 6
Total: (six wickets, 48.3 overs) 249
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-93, 3-109, 4-157, 5-189, 6-228.
Bowling: Nehra 1.2-0-2-1 (nb-1), Sreesanth 9.3-0-72-0, Kohli 1.4-0-12-0, Zaheer 10-0-51-0 (w-2), Harbhajan 10-0-41-2 (w-2), Yuvraj 9-0-41-1, Jadeja 7-0-29-1.