Avishka Fernando and Bhanuka Rajapaksa hit half centuries as Sri Lanka beat India by three wickets for a win in the rain-hit third one-day international yesterday.
Chasing a revised target of 227 in the reduced 47-overs-a-side contest, Sri Lanka depended on a 109-run second-wicket stand between Fernando who contributed 76 and Rajapaksa, who added 65, to achieve their target with 48 balls to spare in Colombo.
India won the three-match series 2-1.
Sri Lanka collected 10 Super League points for the 2023 World Cup qualification and won their first ODI against India since 2017.
Debutant leg-spinner Rahul Chahar returned figures of 3-54, taking key wickets including Fernando to put Sri Lanka in trouble before Ramesh Mendis steered the team home with an unbeaten 15.
Spinners Akila Dananjaya and debutant Praveen Jayawickrama took three wickets each to set up the win as India were bowled out for 225 in 43.1 overs after being put in to field first.
Sri Lanka lost wicketkeeper-batsman Minod Bhanuka early for seven but the right-left batting pair of Fernando, who was named man of the match, and Rajapaksa put the chase on track.
Rajapaksa completed his maiden ODI fifty but soon fell to left-arm quick Chetan Sakariya after hitting 12 boundaries in his 56-ball knock.
Chahar sent back Fernando as Sri Lanka slipped to 214-6 and dismissed Chamika Karunaratne before Sri Lanka won.
Earlier Jayawickrama combined with Dananjaya to trigger a middle-order collapse as India slipped from 179-4 to 195-8.
The two sides will play three Twenty20 internationals starting tomorrow at the same venue.
