Sachin Tendulkar once again fell short of his 100th international century but helped give India the upper hand in their Commonwealth Bank Series match against Sri Lanka on Wednesday.
India, chasing a modest target of 234 for victory at the WACA Ground, were 2-115 after 25 overs of their innings with Virat Kohli not out on 44 off 63 and Rohit Sharma unbeaten on 10 off 16.
MS Dhoni's side lost struggling opener Virender Sehwag for 10 in the third over of their innings but recovered through Tendulkar and Kohli's 75-run partnership before Angelo Mathews dismissed the 'Little Master' for 48 off 63 balls.
Tendulkar looked at ease for most of his innings and appeared a strong chance to finally break his century drought five one-day international innings and 21 Test knocks after his 99th ton.
But he helped to put India in a position where they faced a manageable required run-rate of 4.76 over the final 25 overs to earn their first win of the one-day international tri-series.
Mathews (1-11 off five overs) and Lasith Malinga (1-25 off five) were the pick of Sri Lanka's bowlers in the first part of their innings, but they were always going to face a challenge when they scored just 8-233 after winning the toss and choosing to bat.
Dinesh Chandimal continued his good form with the bat for Sri Lanka, scoring 64 off 81, while Tillakaratne Dilshan (48 off 79) and Mathews (33 off 28) also made valuable contributions.
But Sri Lanka struggled to overcome an impressive Indian bowling effort led by spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (3-32 off 10) and paceman Zaheer Khan, who was phenomenal with the new ball but expensive later which saw him finish with 2-44 off 10.
Sehwag promised pre-match to stick with his aggressive style and he did so early in India's chase but that approach helped to spark his downfall when he attempted a rash shot off Malinga and was caught at third man.
Tendulkar then came to the crease and he looked comfortable early but barely survived on 26 when he bottom edged a Mathews delivery just inches above his stumps.
The 38-year-old survived a close lbw shout when he was on 48, but that turned out to matter very little as two balls later he edged an attempted late cut onto his stumps.
Kohli and Sharma then worked to consolidate the innings, with Tendulkar's earlier quick scoring and their wickets in hand giving their side the edge.
Sri Lanka are trying to overcome an abysmal record at the WACA, where they've won just two of their 15 ODIs.