Dhoni and pacers steer India to victory

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's crucial 76 runs coupled with sharp seam bowling helped his team beat Sri Lanka by 33 runs on Sunday, in the third one-day international, to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

Winning the toss and electing to bat first, India made a moderate 237 for 9 in 50 overs. The visitors were in trouble on 91 for 4, when Dhoni came in to form two important partnerships. He put on 54 with Suresh Raina (54) and 67 with Rohit Sharma (32) to steer India away from a low total.

In reply, the host team was dismissed for 204 in 49 overs, despite a defiant 94 from captain Mahela Jayawardena who waged a lone battle for an unlikely victory after a top-order collapse left the Sri Lankans struggling on 94 for 7.

Seam bowler Praveen Kumar made the breakthrough for the visitors, when he had Sanath Jayasuriya caught behind for 13 runs with the total on 18.

Only eight runs later, Zaheer Khan trapped the other opener Kumar Sangakkara (9) lbw.

Number three batsman Chamara Kapugedera was then beaten by a slow delivery from Kumar and was trapped lbw for 12. Chamara Silva (1) fell lbw to Khan and Tillakaratne Dilshan (16) was caught behind off seamer Munaf Patel to leave Sri Lanka precariously placed at 59 for 6.

With Nuwan Kulasekara (11) dismissed lbw by part-time spinner Yuvraj Singh the match seemed to be heading for an early end.

However, an 81-run stand between Jayawardena and his No. 9 Thilan Thushara breathed some life into the match, even though it was too late for the pair to save the game.

Jayawardena was finally out with Sri Lanka still needing 46 runs to win. Zaheer Khan was the best of India's bowlers, taking 3 for 23.

MS Dhoni was declared the Man of the Match for his match-saving knock of 76 runs and two catches behind the stumps.

The penultimate match of the series will be played on August 26 at the R.Premadasa Stadium (Khettarama), Colombo, the same venue as the third ODI.