Skipper Jayawardene was at the crease as Sri Lanka sealed the win

Malinda Warnapura and skipper Mahela Jayawardene shared a century stand as Sri Lanka beat India by eight wickets to win their three-Test series 2-1.

Warnapura (54) and Jayawardene (50) put on 101 to see their side home on 123-2 in the final session in Colombo.

India were earlier dismissed for 268 in their second innings despite a fighting 61 not out from VVS Laxman.

Spinner Ajantha Mendis took 3-81 to end the series with 26 wickets at a cost of only 18 runs each.

"We showed a lot of character especially to come back after [losing] the Galle Test. I am very happy with the players because they played really good cricket throughout the series," Jayawardene said afterwards.

"We kept the standards high, kept pushing ourselves and we never gave up. I thought the difference was that we had a lot of contributions from different players throughout the series.

"Whenever we were in a situation that we needed somebody to put their hand up do something for us they did it. That's probably the most pleasing thing for me."

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But Jayawardene gave special praise to Mendis, whose wickets haul was a record for a debutant in a three-Test series.

"Ajantha was brilliant, adding a different dimension to the bowling attack. He has fitted into the dressing room well and has been very humble in all his achievements, which is great to see," he commented.

Mendis only took one of the five Indian wickets to fall on the fourth day, but it was a vital one as he had Rahul Dravid caught at slip by Jayawardene for 68, thereby ending a sixth-wicket partnership of 85 with Laxman.

India captain Anil Kumble followed for nine when he was leg-before to Muttiah Muralitharan, but the home side had to wait until after the lunch interval to polish off the tail.

Harbhajan Singh hit five fours in a bright and breezy 26 before he was lbw to Chaminda Vaas and Zaheer Khan departed for a duck soon after as he was run out by Thilan Samaraweera's direct hit as he attempted a single after a mis-field.

Muralitharan finished India off by having last-man Ishant Sharma taken at leg-slip by Warnapura for figures of 3-99, his 756th victim in Tests.

The batsmen didn't put up a good show here and it probably cost us the series India captain Anil Kumble

Faced with such a modest target, Sri Lanka made a poor start as Michael Vandort was bowled for eight by an arm-ball from off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who had to open the bowling because Sharma was carrying an injury and only batted with the aid of a runner.

First-innings centurion Kumar Sangakkara managed only four this time before failing to get over an attempted drive and giving a catch to mid-off from the bowling of Zaheer Khan.

It provided the final glimmer of success for India, who have not win a series in India since 1993, as Warnapura reached fifty off 92 balls and Jayawardene followed him by square cutting Sourav Ganguly for four to end the match.

Kumble admitted his side had been second best for most of the series.

"With Murali and Mendis together it is not easy to get runs off them and we kept losing wickets because of the pressure created by the two of them.

"The batsmen didn't put up a good show here and it probably cost us the series. It was critical the middle order got runs and there was not enough consistency by the batters.

"Overall, Sri Lanka bowled better and took their catches better. They played better cricket throughout the series and they are deservedly the winners," he added.