Dilshan's well constructed innings inspired Sri Lanka to victory

Tillakaratne Dilshan (81) and Russell Arnold (49) put on an unbroken 131 as Sri Lanka beat India by five wickets in the fifth one-dayer in Ahmedabad.

Gautam Gambhir and captain Rahul Dravid both hit 103 as India totalled 285-8, with Farveez Maharoof taking 4-20.

The tourists were struggling on 155-5 but Dilshan and Arnold kept the score ticking along before accelerating to clinch victory with 14 balls to spare.

Sri Lanka now trail 4-1 with the sixth match in Rajkot on Wednesday.

So confident were India of beating their demoralised opponents, that they opted to rest Sachin Tendulkar, Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh.

And their opening batsmen soon got among the bowlers after Marvan Atapattu had put them in.

Gambhir smacked Dilhara Fernando for two fours as his first over went for 13 and then came down the track to hammer Nuwan Zoysa over square leg for six.

Sehwag was more subdued and hit only one boundary in his 19 before Zoysa bowled him and trapped Mahendra Dhoni leg before with successive deliveries.

Yuvraj Singh scratched around for three off 21 balls before he was caught at mid-wicket off the bowling of Chaminda Vaas.

Gambhir and Dravid laid the foundations for India's total

India were struggling on 69-3 but Dravid battled against severe cramp to put on 128 with Gambhir, who was the more aggressive partner as he eased to his first one-day international hundred off 93 balls.

After Gambhir pulled a slower ball to mid-wicket, Venugopal Rao, Suresh Raina and Ajit Agarkar all perished cheaply to Maharoof.

But Dravid stepped up his scoring rate as 50 came off the last five overs.

The skipper lofted Muttiah Muralitharan over the long-on fence and pulled the expensive Fernando to the mid-wicket boundary to bring up his 11th one-day century.

Sri Lanka were soon in trouble as Sanath Jayasuriya's poor run continued when he edged a good Agarkar delivery to Rao at first slip.

It's nice to get a win to start off with, that will boost us for the Tests Marvan Atapattu Match reaction

It got worse as Upul Tharanga was deceived by a slower Agarkar delivery and spooned up a catch to Sehwag, and Kumar Sangakkara edged Rudra Pratap Singh and to a juggling Rao.

Atapattu hammered five boundaries in his 39 and Mahela Jawayardene made a patient 37 to rebuild the innings.

But when the skipper got a leading edge to one that Murali Kartik tossed up and Jawayardene was run out by Jai Prakash Yadav attempting a risky quick single, the game looked up.

However, Dilshan and Arnold paced their innings to perfection, taking ones and twos and punishing a steady diet of loose bowling.

A lofted drive down the ground off Singh brought up Dilshan's 50 off 43 balls, which soon became 81 off 67 and silenced a sell-out crowd of 45,000.

India: V Sehwag, G Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, R Dravid (capt), Y Venugopal Rao, MS Dhoni (wkt), SK Raina, AB Agarkar, RP Singh, M Kartik, S Santh. Sub: JP Yadav.

Sri Lanka: KC Sangakkara (wkt), ST Jayasuriya, MS Atapattu (capt), DPMD Jayawardene, TM Dilshan, WU Tharanga, RP Arnold, CRD Fernando, M Muralitharan, DNT Zoysa, WPUJC Vaas. Sub: MF Maharoof.