Sri Lanka (295 for 5) beat India (174 all out) by 121 runs Sri Lanka crushed India by 121 runs to be crowned champions in the Coca-Cola Triangular tournament. Led from the front by Sanath Jayasuriya (99), and supported splendidly by virtually every other member, Sri Lanka maintained their incredible one-day record at home (played 15, won 13, since July last year). For his blinding 52, and participation in five Indian dismissals, Russel Arnold was named man of the match. Jayasuriya drove away with the man-of-the-series Mitsubishi Lancer. For India, it wasn't as record-shattering a defeat as the desert debacle 10 months ago, but humiliating nonetheless. Sourav Ganguly's men have now lost their eighth consecutive final, and they are left contemplating ways to lift their game when it matters most. Chasing a huge 296-run target - easily the biggest of the fortnight - India got off to the worst possible start, losing Virender Sehwag and Ganguly to the 10th and 11th deliveries of the innings. Sehwag was run out backing up too far, as Arnold executed the perfect throw from point. Ganguly then slashed the next Dilhara Fernando delivery, again to Arnold, but this time on the full: two match-winners back in the pavilion with the score on 5.

There was a brief, attractive rally through Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, but the situation demanded more than pretty 20s and 30s. Dravid tried to hit ferociously, but he's best hitting sweetly, and chopped Fernando onto his stumps for 21. Laxman couldn't make the most of a reprieve on 29 and was out flicking Kumara Dharmasena to mid-wicket, eight runs later. His dismissal paved the way for a lower-order collapse with four wickets - Hemang Badani, Yuvraj Singh, Reetinder Sodhi and Harbhajan Singh - falling for 23 runs. Eventually, Sameer Dighe and Zaheer Khan managed to take the total to 174. Fernando's mean opening burst and Muttiah Muralitharan's testing spell at the lower order were equally good, so that it was entirely fair for them to finish with identical figures - 2 for 32 off 10 overs. Earlier, a virtually perfect batting display by Sri Lanka - brisk at the start, busy in the middle and brutal at the end – had set India a target of 296. Avishka Gunawardene gave Sri Lanka a flying start, and then Mahela Jayawardene and Jayasuriya laid an excellent foundation with a 104-run partnership at close to a run a ball. Jayasuriya, granted a life by Zaheer Khan at the long-off fence, made light of his hamstring blues. Batting with a runner, he pierced the field even in the middle overs, and kept Sri Lanka permanently in the driver's seat. His dismissal, a soft chip to mid-wicket off Virender Sehwag, should have opened the door for India. But Ganguly, opting again for a three-bowler team, found himself short of resources. Jayawardene's 57 was classy and attractive. Normally a boundary-dealer, today he eschewed any extravagant shots and batted for 14 overs before hitting his first four. Russel Arnold (52 off 45 balls) and Romesh Kaluwitharana (32 off 31 balls) injected the innings with some late madness. Not only did they find the boundary - Kaluwitharana the straight, and Arnold the square - they also hared between the wickets. Every weak Indian arm was exploited, and they rocketed their way to 50 runs from four overs and a total of 295.

Rahul Bhattacharya is a staff writer with Wisden Online

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