The tourists, playing for pride after losing the first four games of the seven-match series, successfully chased down India’s 285-8 with 14 balls to spare in the day/night encounter here.
Tillekeratne Dilshan and Russel Arnold fashioned the emphatic victory with an undefeated partnership of 131 for the sixth wicket after Sri Lanka were reduced to 155-5 in the 30th over.
Dilshan top-scored with an unbeaten 81 off 67 balls, while Arnold provided able support with 49 not out.
With the series already in the bag, India rested key batsman Sachin Tendulkar and frontline bowlers Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh for the match.
India’s challenging total revolved around left-hander Gautam Gambhir’s 103 on his first appearance in the series and skipper Rahul Dravid’s identical 103 not out.
Sri Lanka were 73-3 in reply despite Kumar Sangakkara’s 39 when captain Mahela Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene retrieved the situation by adding 70 for the fourth wicket.
Atapattu gave spinner Murali Kartik a tame return catch after making 39 and Jayawardene, returning to the side after missing the previous match due to his marriage in Colombo, was run out for 37.
But Dilshan and Arnold silenced a sell-out crowd of 45,000 by leading their side to a much-needed win.
India’s Gambhir, a regular Test opener who last played a one-dayer in April 2003, smashed 13 boundaries and a six in his maiden limited-overs century.
Dravid overcame leg cramps to reach his 11th century off the penultimate ball of the innings, lofting Dilhara Fernando to the mid-wicket fence for his 11th boundary.
But the Indian captain did not take the field in Sri Lanka’s innings, leaving Virender Sehwag to lead the hosts.
Dravid and Gambhir added 128 for the fourth wicket after India, sent in to bat by Atapattu, were reduced to 69-3 by the 13th over.
Sri Lankan seamer Farveez Maharoof, named super-sub before the match, finished with 4-20 from five overs after replacing lanky left-armer Nuwan Zoysa as early as the 15th over.
Maharoof, who came on to bowl in the 37th over, halted India’s charge from a promising 197-3 with the wickets of Gambhir, Venugopal Rao, Suresh Raina and Ajit Agarkar in successive overs.
Scoreboard
INDIA:
G. Gambhir c Atapattu b Maharoof 103
V. Sehwag b Zoysa 19
M.S. Dhoni lbw b Zoysa 0
Yuvraj Singh c Jayawardene b Vaas 3
R. Dravid not out 103
Y. Venugopal Rao c Tharanga b Maharoof 6
S.K. Raina lbw b Maharoof 13
A.B. Agarkar c Arnold b Maharoof 4
M. Kartik c Atapattu b Fernando 8
R.P. Singh not out 9
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-3, W-7, NB-6) 17
TOTAL (for eight wkts, 50 overs) 285
FALL OF WKTS: 1-50, 2-50, 3-69, 4-197, 5-208, 6-224, 7-230, 8-262
DID NOT BAT: S. Sreesanth.
BOWLING: Vaas 10-1-56-1; Fernando 10-0-77-1 (5nb); Zoysa 5-0-29-2 (1nb, 2w); Muralitharan 10-1-37-0 (2w); Dilshan 3-0-19-0; Jayasuriya 6-0-35-0 (3w); Arnold 1-0-8-0; Maharoof 5-0-20-4.
SRI LANKA:
K.C. Sangakkara c Rao b R.P. Singh 39
S.T. Jayasuriya c Rao b Agarkar 8
W.U. Tharanga c Sehwag b Agarkar 14
D.P.M.D. Jayawardene run out 37
M.S. Atapattu c and b Kartik 39
T.M. Dilshan not out 81
R.P. Arnold not out 49
EXTRAS (LB-3, W-13, NB-3) 19
TOTAL (for five wkts, 47.4 overs) 286
FALL OF WKTS: 1-15, 2-61, 3-73, 4-143, 5-155.
DID NOT BAT: M.F. Maharoof, W.P.U.J.C. Vaas, M. Muralitharan, C.R.D. Fernando.
BOWLING: Agarkar 9.4-0-59-2 (2nb, 2w); R.P. Singh 9-1-54-1 (2w); Sreesanth 10-0-57-0 (5w); Yadav 7-0-44-0; Kartik 10-0-52-1 (1nb, 1w); Sehwag 2-0-17-0 (1w).
RESULT: Sri Lanka won by five wickets.
SUBSTITUTES: India—J.P. Yadav replaced R. Dravid; Sri Lanka – M.F. Maharoof replaced D.N.T. Zoysa.
UMPIRES: K. Hariharan (India) and M.R. Benson (England).
TV UMPIRE: I. Sivaram (India).
MATCH REFEREE: A.G. Hurst (Australia).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Tillekeratne Dilshan.
NEXT MATCH: At Rajkot on Wednesday.—AFP