India defeat Sri Lanka in third ODI

Colombo: Riding on a brilliant century by opener Gautam Gambhir India defeated Sri Lanka by five wickets in the third One Day International (ODI) match at the R Premadasa Stadium here on Saturday.

Chasing 287 for victory, India reached the winning target of 288 runs for the loss of five wickets in 49.4 overs.

Gambhir scored a brilliant knock of 102 runs from 101 deliveries in the match. He hit 10 boundaries in the innings.

MS Dhoni (31), Virat Kohli (38), Suresh Raina (65*) and Irfan Pathan (34*) added some crucial runs with the bat.

India made a poor start to the run chase as opener Virender Sehwag (3) got out early with the scorecard of the visitors showing 8 runs for the loss of one wicket.

Gambhir and Kohli added 105 runs in the second wicket partnership to help India rebuild the innings after loosing Sehwag early.

After Kohli departed, MS Dhoni came to the crease and added 67 runs in the third wicket partnership with Gambhir.

Rohit Sharma (0) failed with his bat once again as he was unable to score a singe run on Saturday.

India stood at 196 for the loss of five wickets at 38.3 overs.

Raina and Pathan scored 92 runs in the sixth wicket partnership to help the visitors win the match and go up in the five-match series by 2-1.

Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga picked up two wickets by giving away 60 runs in his 10 overs.

Thisara Perera and Rangana Herath scalped one wicket each in the game.

Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first in the match.

Sri Lanka scored 286 runs for the loss of five wickets.

Kumar Sangakkara remained the highest scorer for Sri Lanka with his knock of 73 runs.

Mahela Jayawardene (65) and Angelo Mathews (71*) and Jeevan Mendis (45*) added some crucial runs to help the home side reach 286 runs for the loss of five wickets at the end of fifty overs.

India's Zaheer Khan picked up two wickets by giving away 39 runs in his 10 overs.