India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has described paceman Zaheer Khan as one of the team's shining lights during a difficult tour of Sri Lanka.

The Indians have had a tough time of it against the Sri Lankans during the past month having lost to the island nation in the final of the Asia Cup before conceding a 2-1 Test series defeat.

Things got worse for the tourists following an emphatic eight-wicket defeat to begin the current one-day series.

But, led by a man-of-the-match performance from Zaheer, India levelled the series at 1-1 in Dambulla on Wednesday with a three-wicket win.

Despite the closeness of the scoreline the Indians were always in control after Zaheer tore through the Sri Lanka top order to leave the hosts reeling at 11 for four.

The left-armer made the most of some early assistance for the pacemen - a rarity on the tour so far - to return figures of four for 27 as the hosts were skittled for just 142.

And Dhoni said Zaheer's haul was a reward for effort following the left-armer's toil on wickets that have usually favoured the spinners.

"Zaheer has been consistent throughout," Dhoni said.

"I've been playing for four years and I've seen him bowl like this. He has moved way ahead when it comes to his fielding as well.

"He bowled really well in England too, and it's really good to have someone like him."

The series now moves on to Colombo for the final three matches and Dhoni has warned his pace bowlers not to expect the same assistance from the pitches at the R Premadasa Stadium.

When the ground hosted the third Test between the two nations earlier this month the spinners dominated, taking 20 of the 32 wickets to fall and Dhoni expects more of the same.

"It was a deceptive pitch, with something in it for the fast bowlers," he said after the match in Dambulla.

"In tough, hot and humid conditions, they (the pacemen) bowled consistently, but I don't think they will get such conditions in the coming matches."

Despite that Dhoni said his players could go to Colombo with some momentum after the much-needed win, saying: "A win is a good habit to have. You know you can deal with them, you had a good fight in the game.

"You can now look into the eye of the opponents and say if we play good cricket we can definitely beat you."

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene conceded his batsmen will need to lift their game when the series resumes in Colombo on Sunday.

Their top five batsmen contributed just 17 runs between them on Wednesday and Jayawardene said: "At the start of the series I said batting was the most important thing for us. We've got to put runs on the board.

"We have good bowlers who can create opportunities, but to do that we need to be consistent with the bat. On a wicket like this you have to really struggle for your runs and work hard. But we didn't dig in deep and fight really hard."

Jayawardene revealed veteran seamer Chaminda Vaas, who missed Wednesday's match with a hamstring strain, would be assessed before the third ODI.

"After the first game he had a tight hamstring so we gave him a day off on Tuesday," Jayawardene said.

"We wanted to have a fitness test on Wednesday morning but he still had the stiffness so we didn't risk playing him in back-to-back games.

"We have the Champions Trophy coming up and we didn't want him to pick up a serious injury."