At the beginning, hopes rose for Indians as Michael Vandort, the Lankan opener was bowled out by Harbhajan Singh and ended up with a score of only eight runs. After a few minutes, Gautam Gambhir showed Kumar Sangakkara (4) the way back to the pavilion. The score board then displayed only 22 runs by Sri Lanka; but Malinda Warnapura and Mahela Jayawardene’s partnership became impregnable. Both of them remained not out till victory was clinched by the Lankans. While Malinda scored 54, Jayawardene’s unbeatable 50 runs helped Lankans to seal the match. Lankans scored 44 runs in Harbhajan’s 14 spells, Anil Kumble’s 10 overs enriched them with 34 runs. Zaheer Khan gave 22 runs in 6 overs and Sehwag’s 3 overs fetched them 12 runs. The last ball came from Saurav Ganguly, the former Indian captain, which was despatched to the boundary by Jayawardene through a brilliant cover drive.

Though India commenced with 161 for five today (August 11), the last five batsmen were bowled out by Sri Lankan bowlers within a few hours. Rahul Dravid scored 68 runs and V V S Laxman remained not out with 61 runs. While Kumar Sangakkara was selected as the Man of the Match; Ajantha Mendis received the Man of the Series’ honour.