Their brief honeymoon with the number one tag over and their batting frailties exposed, India will have a score to settle when they take on Sri Lanka in the cricket tri-series final in Colombo on Monday.

The six-wicket win over New Zealand was the perfect start for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men as it not only booked them a place in the final but also made them the number one ODI side in the world.

Barely 24 hours at the top and the joy had just started to sink in when Sri Lanka inflicted on them a moral-shattering 139-run defeat in their league encounter.

What would worry the Indian think-tank is that on all counts Sri Lanka proved much superior.

After drab low-score matches, the hosts piled up a massive 307 for six wickets, suggesting the Indian attack was far from intimidating.

And then the canny Angello Mathews, with his six-wicket haul, proved that there are enough chinks in the Indian batting armour as the visitors folded for 168 inside 38 overs.

It has been more than evident that despite best of efforts from both Sachin Tendulkar and Dinesh Karthik, India is missing its regular opening pair of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.

The rollicking start that the team is used to has not been witnessed so far even though Tendulkar looked in good nick in both the matches.

The top order clearly has a brittle look about it and the return of someone as experienced as Rahul Dravid has not been able to gloss over the harsh reality.

Yuvraj Singh came here as a possible candidate to snatch the number one batsman’s tag from his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni but the left-hander has looked more impressive with the ball than with the bat.

Dhoni and Suresh Raina played sensibly against New Zealand to guide the side home but they could not repeat it when the chips were down against Sri Lanka.

Yusuf Pathan got just one chance so far in the series and could not make the most of it.

The bowling department that looked so impressive against New Zealand lost all its sting and fire overnight and looked pedestrian against the hosts.

Apart from Harbhajan Singh, other bowlers simply bled run and Ishant Sharma has looked a pale shadow of himself in the series so far.

In contrast, Sri Lanka have hauled themselves up after losing both the Twenty20 matches against New Zealand before coming into the tri-series.

They beat New Zealand in the first match and then outplayed India to swagger into the final at the R Premadasa Stadium where they have lost little.

Much to India’s horror, Sanath Jayasuriya seems to have found his form just in time and his 79-ball 98 was an age-defying act by the 40-year-old ‘Matara Marauder’.

Tillakaratne Dilshan has not converted the starts yet but the right-hander made every ball he faced count by scoring at a brisk rate.

Thilina Kandamby and Chamara Kapugedera proved they have matured head over their shoulder and if Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene join the party, India may have to return empty-handed again.

Squads:

India: MS Dhoni (c), Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Amit Mishra, Abhishek Nayar, Ashish Nehra, Yusuf Pathan, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma, RP Singh.

Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara (c), Muttiah Muralitharan, Malinga Bandara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilina Kandamby, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Dammika Prasad, Thilan Samaraweera, Upul Tharanga and Thilan Thushara.

India’s status as the number one one-day team proved shortlived after the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side slumped to a 139-run defeat against Sri Lanka in an inconsequential match of Compaq Cup tri-nation cricket series here on Saturday.

Although India were already assured of a place in Monday’s final of the tri-nation series after their big win over New Zealand yesterday, Dhoni and his men needed an unbeaten run in the tournament to maintain their number one ODI team status.

However, Sanath Jayasuriya and Thilina Kandambi combined with the bat and then Angelo Mathews ignited fire with the ball to take the hosts to the convincing victory.

Chasing a formidable 308 for victory India were bowled out for a paltry 168 in 37.2 overs as only six batsmen could manage to reach double figures.

Earlier, opting to bat Sri Lanka rode on Jayasuriya’s blistering 98 off 79 balls and Kandambi’s unbeaten 91 down the order to score 307 for six in their alloted 50 overs.

Needing 308 for win, India’s makeshift opening duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Dinesh Karthik (16 off 23) started the innings on a positive note adding 32 runs in the first six overs before Sri Lanka pulled back with the wicket of Karthik.

Trying to glide a leg side delivery to the fine-leg boundary, the Tamil Nadu wicket-keeper gloved a simple catch to Kumar Sangakkara off left-arm seamer Thilan Thushara’s bowling in the sixth over.

From there on both Tendulkar and new man in Rahul Dravid found going tough although the the master blaster managed to find the fence in between.

Tendulkar hit some elegant flicks and glances to score his boundaries before Nuwan Kulasekara got the vital wicket in the 14th over with India scoreboard reading 67. He struck five fours in his short but classy 33-ball 27-run innings.

Vice captain Yuvraj Singh made his arrival in style, clobbering Kulasekara for four over mid-on in the very second ball he faced but thereafter went to a shell as he played and missed Lasith Malinga on several occasions.

Boundaries were far and few as Dravid and Yuvraj kept the scoreboard ticking with ones and twos before the right-hander cut loose in the 19th over, hitting a four and a six of Dilshan’s consecutive deliveries to pick 13 runs off the over.

But Malinga broke the dangerously-looking 38-run fourth wicket stand as Yuvraj edged one to Sangakkara.

After that the famed Indian batting line up crumbled like a pack of card as they lost five wickets for mere 25 runs as Angelo Mathews wreaked havoc, picking three six wickets for mere 20 runs in his six overs.

Suresh Raina’s misery with the bat continued as he made a duck. He gave a catching practice to Sangakkara in the very first ball he faced off Mathews.

Dravid was the next to follow, bowled by Mathews as the right-hander went for an extravagant drive.

In his next over and innings 28th, Mathews struck twice, first castling skipper Dhoni’s stumps and then Yusuf Pathan handed a regulation catch to Sangakkara, thereby dashing India’s hopes with the scoreboard reading 130 for seven.

Mathews’ rampage continued unabated as he disturbed both Harbhajan Singh and Asish Nehra’s timbers.

The duo of RP Singh (19 not out)and Ishant Sharma (13) did make a last ditch effort to take India’s score to some respectability by adding 29 runs before Ajantha Mendis wrapped up the proceedings.

Earlier, Jayasuriya returned to form with a blistering fashion. The 40-year-old left-hander, who had failed to score a half-century in his last eight previous outings, smashed 13 boundaries in his innings.

However, after the good start Sri Lanka were struggling at 176 for five at one stage but Kandambi and Chamara Kapugedara (36) rattled up 83 runs for the sixth wicket to pour water on India’s hopes.

The duo batted sensibly dealing mostly on singles with occasional fours and saved their last for the final power-play.

A direct hit by RP Singh separated the pair at the fag end but Kandambi batted with vigour and punished all the Indian bowlers with utter disdain.

His 91 came off just 73 balls which included 11 shots to the fence as the last four overs yielded 46 runs.

Sri Lanka got off to a flying start with Dilshan (23) and Jayasuriya relishing batting on a good track.

Dilshan hit a flashy square cut to fence off Nehra in the first ball of the match and then sent an exquisite straight drive to boundary ropes, to start the proceedings in a brilliant fashion.

With Both Nehra and RP Singh not making any impact, Dhoni brought gangling pacer Ishant into the attack as early as in the fifth over of the innings.

The lanky bowler soon produced result, dismissing Dilshan, who played a casual drive to give an easy catch to Dhoni behind the wicket.

Jayasuriya was unperturbed and severely punished RP Singh, fetching 15 runs from his over, en route to his half-century, which came off just 45 balls.

The hosts were cruising comfortably but some exceptional glove work by Dhoni resulted in the fall of Mahela Jayawardene (17) off Yousuf Pathan and then Harbhajan Singh trapped Kumar Sangakkara (5) to make it 102 for three.

Jayasuriya continued with his aggressive batting as he hit Yuvraj Singh for successive boundaries. He survived a run out chance and together with Angelo Mathews (19) put up 70 runs for the fourth wicket before his heartbreaking dismissal.

Mathews too joined him soon when he gave charge to Raina, got foxed by the spin and Dhoni stumped him.