Dambulla, August 18:

Mahela Jayawardene cracked a responsible half-century to guide Sri Lanka to a crushing eight-wicket victory over India in the first one-day international here on Monday.

The Sri Lankan skipper scored an unbeaten 61 to

help his team achieve a modest 147-run target with more than 15 overs to spare for a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. The victory was set up by

Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan.

Unorthodox spinner Mendis took 3-21 and off-spinner Muralitharan 3-37 as India were bundled out for 146. Sri Lanka lost opener Sanath Jayasuriya (10) and Kumar Sangakkara (19) in seamer Munaf Patel’s opening spell, but Jayawardene and Chamara Kapugedera (45 not out) ensured the win with a 102-run stand for the third wicket.

India were let down by their batsmen as none could get past 25 against a disciplined Sri Lankan pace-spin combination. Sri Lanka’s new-ball bowlers Nuwan Kulasekara and Chaminda Vaas did the early damage when they shared three wickets in the opening 12 overs to leave the tourists reeling at 36-3.

Mendis continued to trouble India as he took two big wickets in his opening spell. His first victim was Yuvraj Singh, who inside-edged a

delivery onto his stumps. Mendis then removed Dhoni to make sure the tourists could not get a foothold in the match. Dhoni (six) was caught by Jayawardene at lone slip while trying to cut.

Sehwag out

DAMBULLA: India’s opener Virender Sehwag has been ruled out of the ongoing ODI series against Sri Lanka due to an ankle injury, a top official said on Monday. Sehwag missed the opening ODI of the five-match series after failing to recover from the injury, sustained during a practice session on Sunday evening. India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said they would miss the in-form batsman. — AFP

SCOREBOARD

INDIA

G Gambhir b Vaas 0

V Kohli lbw b Kulasekara 12

S Raina c Silva b Kulasekara 17

Y Singh b Mendis 23

R Sharma c J’rdene b Thushara 19

MS Dhoni c J’rdene b Mendis 6

I Pathan lbw b Murali 7

H Singh c S’kkara b Murali 12

Z Khan c Thushara b Murali 12

P Ojha not out 16

M Patel b Mendis 15

Extras: 7 (b2, lb2, w3)

Total: 146 (46 overs)

FoW: 1-0, 2-23, 3-36, 4-73, 5-75, 6-87,

7-87, 8-107, 9-117

Sri Lanka bowling: Vaas 9-0-34-1,

Kulasekara 7-0-23-2, Thushara 6-0-18-1, Mendis 9-4-21-3, Muralitharan 10-2-37-3, Jayasuriya 5-1-9-0

SRI LANKA

S Jayasuriya c Pathan b Patel 10

K Sangakkara c & b Patel 19

M Jayawardene not out 61

C Kapugedera not out 45

Extras: 12 (b4, lb3, w5)

Total: 147/2 (34.5 overs)

FoW: 1-18, 2-45

India bowling: Patel 9-0-32-2,

Zaheer 7-1-24-0, Pathan 7-0-35-0,

Harbhajan 4-0-18-0, Ojha 3-0-9-0,

Sharma 2.5-0-11-0, Raina 2-0-11-0