Once again, the tried and tested formula for Sri Lanka over the last 13 years paid rich dividends.

Sanath Jayasuriya got off to a flier making 27 in 13 balls and added 45 runs for the first wicket in just 23 balls, which set the tone for the Sri Lankans as the top order cruised through the middle overs chasing the revised target of 154 in their Commonwealth Bank Series tri-nation game against India here at the Manuka Oval on Tuesday.

Promoted to open the batting, Tillekeratne Dilshan fired an unbeaten 62 in 59 balls sharing an unbroken 85 run stand for the third wicket and the Sri Lankans got home with eight wickets and 12 balls to spare, to record their first win in the competition in Australia’s capital city.

While Jayasuriya’s hit and run strategy worked off, it was Dilshan, with his calculated effort that laid the foundation for Sri Lanka’s victory with his 12th half-century in his new role as an opener.

India, put into to bat made 195 for five in the allotted 29 overs in the rain curtailed game, where the match got underway three and a half hours behind schedule.

Further rain at the innings break gave the Sri Lankans a revised target. Although India’s run rate had only been 6.7, the target was revised according to the Duckworth/Lewis method and the Sri Lankans had to chase 154, which meant they needed to maintain a run rate of 7.3, and what was more discontenting was that the Power Plays were reduced to just eight overs, whereas the Indians had utilized 11 overs of big hitting.

Sri Lanka needed to win in the 16th over if they were to walk away with the bonus point ,and they gave up hopes of that once Jayasuriya fell.

Neverthelss, they wil take the four points they get for this win.

However, at present, the Indians are top of the Points Table with eight points followed by Australia, who have seven points. Although Sri Lanka are placed in the bottom of the table with six points, India have played one game more than them.

Dilshan had been a doubtful starter for this game with a knee infection, but after being declared fit, Sri Lanka decided to drop Upul Tharanga and push Dilshan up the order, something that he did for his club Bloomfield last season.

They also opted to play five specialist bowlers, brining in both Nuwan Kulasekara and Farveez Maharoof after Ishara Amrasinghe was ruled out with a side strain.

Jayasuriya started in typical aggressive style, sending the first ball he faced for four.

He was dismissed much to the relief of the Indians when he gloved Ishant Sharma down the leg to M. S. Dhoni, but by that stage, the left-hander had deflated India’s moral completely.

Dilshan was off colour early on, trying to maximize the Power Plays and failed to connect many pull shots that he tried. But when Kumar Sangakkara fell in the very first ball by Harbhajan Singh for 10, he started playing more of a conventional game relying on the many singles that were available.

Earlier on, Dilshan was struggling so much to connect that he even mistimed a catch to mid-off off the free hit that he got off Sharma. But the arrival of Jayawardene calmed things down and meticulously, they took Sri Lanka to victory.

Their running between the wickets was classy and that put the pressure on the fielders and after the blazing start they had got earlier, both batsmen ensured that the run rate never crept to eight an over.

Occasionally they picked up the boundaries too when the inevitable bad ball came as Dhoni tried to use his part-time bowlers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar.

When India batted, Kulasekara and Maharoof picked up Sehwag and Tendulkar respectively, both caught at third man and India recovered with Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambir adding 64 runs for the third wicket.

Lasith Malinga provided the breakthrough with a clever piece of fielding, running out Gambir, who had made a century against Sri Lanka in Brisbane, at the non-striker’s end.

Sharma, who is only 20, looks an exciting prospect for the Indians and he top scored for them with an unbeaten 70 in just 64 balls , with six boundaries and slog swept Muttiah Muralitharan for a six. That was his second ODI fifty in just his eighth game.

Sri Lanka certainly will take a lot of positives from Canberra and the fact that both Kulasekara and Maharoof came good is a huge plus for them heading to Perth, where they will need a lot of fast bowling.

India innings (29 overs maximum)

V Sehwag c Muralitharan b Kulasekara 14

SR Tendulkarc Kulasekara b Maharoof 32

Gambhir run out (Dilshan/Malinga) 35

RG Sharma not out 70

MS Dhoni run out 31

Yuvraj Singh c Muralitharan b Malinga 6

RV Uthappa not out 0

Extras (lb 1, w 6) 7

Did not bat: IK Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, S Sreesanth, I Sharma

Fall of wickets:1-45 (Sehwag, 7.3 ov), 2-49 (Tendulkar, 8.2 ov), 3-113 (Gambhir, 19.6 ov), 4-181 (Dhoni, 27.4 ov), 5-192 (Yuvraj Singh, 28.3 ov)

Bowling: WPUJC Vaas 6 1 39 0 SL Malinga 6 0 45 1 MF Maharoof 6 0 33 1 KMDN Kulasekara 6 0 41 1 M Muralitharan 5 0 36 0

(target: 154 runs from 21 overs)

R TM Dilshan not out 62

ST Jayasuriya c Dhoni b I Sharma 27

KC Sangakkara c I Sharma b H. Singh 10

DPMD Jayawardene not out 36

Extras (lb 6, w 10, nb 3) 19

(8.10 runs per over)

Did not bat: MF Maharoof, LPC Silva, CK Kapugedera, WPUJC Vaas, SL Malinga, KMDN Kulasekara, M Muralitharan

Fall of wickets:1-45 (Jayasuriya, 3.5 ov), 2-69 (Sangakkara, 7.1 ov)

Bowling: S Sreesanth 3 0 48 0 I Sharma 4 0 26 1 IK Pathan 4 0 30 0 Harbhajan Singh 4 0 15 1 SR Tendulkar 2 0 15 0 V Sehwag 2 0 14 0

Points: Sri Lanka 4, India 0

Player of the match: TM Dilshan (Sri Lanka)

Umpires: AL Hill (New Zealand) and BNJ Oxenford

TV umpire: PD Parker

Match referee: JJ Crowe (New Zealand)