India celebrate a wicket with the new ball for paceman Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel took three wickets each as India beat Sri Lanka by 33 runs in Colombo to take a 2-1 lead in their one-day series.

The tourists reached 237-9 after opting to bat first, thanks to 76 by Mahendra Dhoni and Suresh Raina's 53.

It all looked plain sailing as Sri Lanka slumped to 94-7 in reply

Captain Mahela Jayawardene responded with 94 off 111 balls but he fell to Patel in the 46th over and Sri Lanka were eventually all out for 204.

"It's always better to win through collective effort and it shows that we are not relying on any individual," India skipper Dhoni said afterwards.

They made a stuttering start to the game as Nuwan Kulasekera removed Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh cheaply and teenager Virat Kohli was run out for 25 by Chamara Silva's direct hit at the bowler's end from mid-wicket.

606: DEBATE A team like Aus or SA from the same situation would have routed Lanka for less than 100 runs 80mph

The introduction of spin saw the end of Subramaniam Badrinath, who charged down the pitch at Ajantha Mendis but only succeeded in giving a catch to mid-off.

India needed to consolidate and Raina rose to the challenge with a 75-ball half-century which included a towering six off Mendis.

He was eventually run out by Tillakaratne Dilshan in the 35th over, but Dhoni took on the senior role for his team as he and Rohit Sharma (32) added 67 in 11 overs.

Dhoni struck eight fours and was there until the penultimate over as India left Sri Lanka with a far from easy target under lights.

The home side soon found out how difficult a task it would be as Praveen Kumar had veteran Sanath Jayasuriya caught behind for 13 as he attempted his favourite square cut and Zaheer Khan trapped Kumar Sangakkara lbw for nine in the following over.

The India seamers continued to exploit the conditions with Zaheer, in particular, bowling superbly for figures of 3-23 from his 10 overs.

Jayawardene puts away a short ball during his innings of 94 for Sri Lanka

It looked like Sri Lanka would struggle to play out their overs when Kulasekera became the seventh man out, trapped leg-before by Yuvraj's left-arm spin.

But Jayawardene refused to give up the chase and found an unexpected ally in Thilan Thusara, who contributed 30 to an 81-run partnership.

He was eventually bowled by Patel and Jayawardene followed when, with an 11th one-day century in sight, he attempted to paddle a ball from the same bowler towards fine leg and only succeeded giving a running catch to Kumar.

Patel (3-42) completed the job three overs later by bowling last man Muttiah Muralitharan to leave India needing one win from the two remaining matches to clinch the series.

"I don't think we deserved to win. We made too many mistakes with the bat," Jayawardene commented.

"We knew we had to negotiate the first 15 overs, but we lost four quick wickets and it was an uphill task from there."