Malinda Warnapura and Mahela Jayawardene shared an unbeaten stand of 101 to guide Sri Lanka to a 2-1 series win over India with a day of the third Test in Colombo to spare.Both batsmen struck half-centuries as the home side completed a comfortable eight-wicket victory.
Needing 122 to win in their second-innings, Sri Lanka recovered from the loss of two early wickets to cruise home on 123 for two.
The hosts were stuttering after losing Michael Vandort for eight and Kumar Sangakkara for four, to slip to 22 for two, but Warnapura (54) and Jayawardene (50) calmed the nerves.
India, reflecting on their Test series loss to Sri Lanka, have a reason to believe they were beaten not so much by their hosts as by unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis, who remained an unfathomable mystery.
The 23-year-old army officer badly bruised India's batting pride during his team's 2-1 victory in the series that ended in Colombo at the P. Sara ground on Monday, capturing 26 wickets.
It was the best by any bowler in a debut three-Test series, surpassing Englishman Alec Bedser's 24-wicket haul against India at home in 1946.
Mendis was instrumental in ruining the Indian batsmen's reputation for playing spin better than pace as he overshadowed even Muralitharan, the world's leading wicket-taker with 756 Test scalps.
Tendulkar, who was 172 short of breaking retired West Indies captain Brian Lara's world record of 11,953 Test runs before the series, could manage just 95 in six innings without a half-century.
Laxman impressed only in patches as he scored 215 runs, while Dravid made 148 and Ganguly 96.
Indian openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir alone salvaged their reputations, playing key roles in their team's victory in the second Test in Galle.
Sehwag smashed an unbeaten 201 and 50, while Gambhir made successive half-centuries to give solid starts. But it was the only occasion when the Sri Lankan spin duo looked under pressure.
