By David Ornstein

Yuvraj's 35th ODI fifty put India on course for victory

A fine batting display from Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Dhoni helped India to an important victory over Sri Lanka in the one-day CB Series in Adelaide.

Batting first, Sri Lanka made an awful start but recovered to post 238-6 with Kumar Sangakkara (128) and Mahela Jayawardene (71) in excellent form.

India slumped to 35-3 in response but Yuvraj (76) and Dhoni (50 no) steered them towards victory.

The loss of three late wickets did not stop India sealing a two-wicket win.

The result, secured by Dhoni with five balls to spare, sees India close the gap on leaders Australia to five points after eight matches of the tri-series.

Sri Lanka's hopes of reaching the finals, meanwhile, are now hanging by a thread.

Despite winning the toss and opting to bat, Jayewardene's men lost wickets in the first and third overs, slumping to 6-2.

The credit goes to Yuvraj - he was excellent throughout his innings and that's what we expect from him India captain Mahendra Dhoni

With the fourth ball of the day Munaf Patel coaxed Tillakaratne Dilshan into prodding at one outside off-stump and edging behind to Dhoni.

Then, three deliveries into his second over, Munaf got fingertips to Sangakkara's straight drive, diverting it onto the stumps and leaving Sanath Jayasuriya well short of his ground.

In stifling heat, India would have been delighted with their early inroads but it was important for them to press home their early advantage.

But wicket-keeper Sangakkara, who hit 80 against Australia last Friday, steadied the innings before patiently setting about building a competitive total.

Sangakkara lost two partners to run-outs - Praveen Kumar tipped another of his straight drives onto the stumps to account for Jayawardene and Rohit Sharma's direct hit sent Chamara Kapugedera packing

But he survived to bring up his first ODI ton in a year by flicking Munaf through midwicket.

Sangakkara's ton was his first since in ODIs since February 2007

He finally fell, pulling Irfan Pathan to Kumar at deep midwicket, and then Chamara Silva was caught by Robin Uthappa off Harbhajan Singh.

Much of this series has been characterised by substandard batting and, initially, India continued the trend by slumping to 35-3.

In fairness to Sachin Tendulkar, there was little he could do to fend off Lasith Malinga's first ball, which benefited from some devilish away swing to clip the off-stump.

Yet the run-out of Uthappa, who had already been dropped by Sangakkara, cannot solely be put down to Jayasuriya's alert fielding and direct hit. The 22-year-old's running was poor.

Gautam Gambhir was caught behind attempting to flick Ishara Amerasinghe down leg and Rohit Sharma, who was building a good partnership with Yuvraj, swept Muttiah Muralitharan down the throat of Silva at deep midwicket.

Attempting to dissect the Sri Lankan field at every opportunity, Yuvraj brought up his fifty off 46 balls and then upped the run rate with a blistering array of strokes through the off and on sides.

A bonus point, for reaching their target within 40 overs, was looking increasingly possible for India.

606: DEBATE Debate India's win over Sri Lanka here

But Jayawardene introduced Chaminda Vaas for his second spell in the 33rd over and the impact was immediate as the paceman bowled Yuvraj - the highest scorer in the series so far - with a beautiful yorker.

Dhoni and Pathan (31) continued India's surge but after Pathan was bowled by Amerasinghe, they began to panic.

As the run rate plummeted, Kumar was snapped up by Jayawardene off Amerasinghe and Harbhajan was trapped lbw by Malinga.

Sri Lanka made a desperate, last-gasp push for victory but when Dhoni crashed Farveez Maharoof through the covers it was all over.

• India captain Mahendra Dhoni:
"The credit goes to Yuvraj - he was excellent throughout his innings and that's what we expect from him.

"He has not been scoring for a while now - the sooner he comes to form the better for the side.

"One of the things you should do as a team is enjoy each other's success and that's what we're doing out here."

• Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene:
"It was a very good game, we had opportunities but Yuvraj came in the middle and played very well.

"With the tail-enders there was a good chance of Lasith doing something special but we were probably 15-20 short today.

"We need three wins from our three remaining games and we really need to go all out and try to get those three wins."

• Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara:
"When you score runs you always expect to be in the winning side but when the side loses everyone loses - I'd rather had scored less if it meant us winning the game.

"If you go into bat and you're in form you're expected to get runs and the rest of the guys have to work around you.

"We will get back on track, it's not for a lack of trying."