Sri Lanka secured a 74-run victory over India in the Dambulla tri-series final thanks to a powerful batting display inspired by Tillakaratne Dilshan's first ODI century on home turf.

Kumar Sangakkara's team came into the Dambulla final wanting to right the wrongs of the Asia Cup in June, and an allround professional performance saw them dominate from start to finish.

All the pre-tournament talk had been about the importance of the toss but the round-robin results of the tri-series had disproved that theory. With no water on the pitch for the four days preceeding the final the surface was dry with no moisture to juice up the surface for the team having to bowl first.

On winning the toss Sangakkara therefore had no hesitation in batting first and the Sri Lankan openers made hay in the favourable conditions, setting up their stall with noticably less swing available for the Indian seamers up front.

The opening pair of Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra had been India's greatest strength in the preceeding fortnight but the conditions, and the decision by MS Dhoni to open with Munaf Patel instead of Nehra, blunted the Indian new ball attack.

The Sri Lankan opening pair of Dilshan and Mahela Jayawardene took full advantage as a circumspect Jayawardene provided the foil for Dilshan to play his natural expansive game. The pair shared an opening stand of 121 which came in quick time, giving Sri Lanka the perfect start.

The situation was particularly bleak for India with the visitors short on bowling options having gone into the game with four specialist bowlers, dropping Ravindra Jadeja for Rohit Sharma in an attempt to shore up their batting frailties.

With all four seamers leaking runs, Yuvraj Singh was called on to fill the fifth bowler's role and he did a solid job holding up an end. Jayawardene then fell to Ishant Sharma for 39 and the wicket of Upul Tharanga followed shortly afterwards as India slowly clawed their way back into the match.

But it was only temporary respite for India as Sangakkara joined Dilshan at the crease and played second fiddle to the Sri Lankan opener. Dilshan was in fine form, blasting anything loose to the fence and he continued merrily on his way to complete his eight ODI hundred. Amazingly it was his first ton on home soil and the amount of time he spent in the nineties indicated just what it meant to Dilshan in front of a capacity crowd.

He and his skipper added 85 in tandem before the centurion perished with ten overs to go. Sangakkara saw it as licence to attack and despite losing Chamara Kapugedera and Angelo Mathews in the slog he continued to attack and looked set to lead Sri Lanka to a major total when he fell to Patel for 71.

Chamara Silva was left to do the rest of the hitting as he ended unbeaten on 26, pulling the home side up to an imposing total of 299 in a tournment which had yielded only thee scores over 200 in 11 attempts.

India had a major task on their hands and Virender Sehwag was key to their chances of chasing down the target. He started the innings by characteristically smashing the first and third balls from Lasith Malinga away for four. But the first over would end badly for India as Dinesh Karthik was given out as the ball brushed his thigh pad on it's way through to Sangakkara, Malinga given a freebie on his birthday.

In at number three Virat Kohli provided solid support to Sehwag and the Indian talisman continued where he had left off against the Kiwis as he raced to 28, before a suberb piece of fielding from Chamara Kapugedera brought an premature end to his innings.

Nuwan Kulasekara produced a huge inswinger which hit Sehwag on the pad and in the ensuing chaos of a major lbw appeal, the Indian opener tried to steal a leg bye but was caught out by a Kapugedera direct hit, sending the home fans into raptures.

Although playing catch-up India were in with a shout due to their long batting line-up and partnerships between Yuvraj and Kohli, and then Dhoni and Suresh Raina, briefly reinvigorated the chase. It appeared at one stage that it would turn out to be Yuvraj's day as he survived two edges through to Kumar Sangakkara, somehow surviving by way of a favourable umpiring decision and a no-ball.

However India's nemesis Thisara Perera almost inevitably did for Yuvraj and Kohli soon after, and with the pressure mounting wickets continued to fall with Dhoni the last man out for 67 off 100 balls, as India fell 74 runs short of their target.

Moment Of The Match
While the toss had been less significant in the past fortnight than it was in the Asia Cup, the surface prepared for the final gave a clear advantage to the side batting first. The pitch had not seen water for the previous four or five days and the zip which had been available to the team bowling first was no more with the lack of moisture about. Sangakkara won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first. His openers then took advantage with Kumar and Nehra unable to find their usual early movement. It was an opening stand which effectively won the game for Sri Lanka within the first 20 overs.

Delivery Of The Day
It may not have been given the lbw which it deserved but Nuwan Kulasekera's inswinger corker did enough to bewilder Virender Sehwag into an ill-fated leg bye.

Shot Of The Day
Dilshan was particularly entertaining in his knock - he always is - and he cranked up into a higher gear in the 12th over with the one and only six of his innings. He thrust his front foot down the pitch to Ishant Sharma and swung high and handsome wide of long-on and over the fence.

Doug Saxby