India's lack of a credible fifth bowler did cost them dearly, but nothing could take away from the calmness, intelligence, and above all, the spirit that the two men displayed throughout their match-winning performance.

After seeing out a testing, economical spell from Ashish Nehra, the two set upon Sourav Ganguly with relish, before taking apart Virender Sehwag with clinical precision. Harbhajan Singh suffered too, and by the time Rahul Dravid brought his quick men on, it was really too late. Jayawardene spanked his first half-century in 19 games, and Sri Lanka romped him to a victory the Indians might have taken for granted.

Sri Lanka couldn't have asked for a worse start. Already without Mr. Experience Sanath Jayasuriya, the home side were six down shortly after the halfway mark. Upul Tharanga, 20 years old and showing his nerves, gloved a short, sharp ball from Irfan Pathan to Mahendra Dhoni. Kumar Sangakkara and Atapattu then set about repairing the damage before the umpire, Tyron Wijewardene, intervened to bring a premature end to Sangakkara's innings.

What followed a 126-run partnership between Jayawardene, whose unbeaten 94 was his highest score in four years, and Chandana, who matched his more accomplished partner in strokeplay, poise and heart. Chandana ended with 44 not out, an innings richly deserving accolades for the way he set about dissecting, and then, destroying the Indian bowling. The only Indian bowler to come out unscathed was Ashish Nehra, whose parsimonious ten-over spell included two wickets. But the inability to defeat a Sri Lankan outfit missing Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan after having them down on the mat for most of the game will haunt Dravid and his men for days to come.