Sri Lanka will be desperate to break their Commonwealth Bank Series duck and halt rejuvenated India's form surge when the two sides clash at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday.
Mahela Jayawardene's 0-2 outfit have been competitive despite suffering successive defeats, both in Perth - a tense four-wicket loss to India then, two days later, inching to within five runs of conjuring an Angelo Mathews-inspired miracle win over Australia.
Meanwhile, on the back of their nail-biting, last-over victory over the host nation on Sunday, India - with two wins in five days - have turned their nightmarish summer around, jumping to eight points, just one shy of the table-leading Aussies.
Gautam Gambhir (92) set up the 270-target run chase, which was expertly and thrillingly finished by skipper MS Dhoni (44 not out) to inflict Australia's first loss of the series.
When India got over the line against the Sri Lankans in Perth, it was Virat Kohli (77) - India's best batsman in all forms this summer - who piloted the chase, which was finished by spin pair Ravichandran Ashwin (30 not out) and Ravindra Jadeja (24 not out).
Earlier, Ashwin (3-32) and Jadeja (1-41) applied the brakes to Sri Lanka's innings on a deck that wasn't expected to favour the tweakers. Sri Lanka entered that clash without a specialist spinner and paid the penalty.
For their next match against Australia, off-spinner Sachithra Senanayake replaced seam-bowling all-rounder Thissara Perera, to good effect (2-45).
Senanayake will again be expected to play a key role on Tuesday on an Adelaide pitch which invariably provides some assistance for the slow bowlers, while Mathews, Sri Lanka's second-leading run-scorer (97) and leading wicket-taker (four), will likely again be at the forefront and is an early contender for Player of the Series.
India and Sri Lanka have only ever met once at Adelaide Oval, with the Indians clinching a thriller by two wickets with just five balls to spare during the Commonwealth Bank Series four years ago.
Stalwarts Kumar Sangakkara (128) and Jayawardena (71) laid a nice foundation for the Sri Lankans, who later had India reeling at 3-35, before Yuvraj Singh (76 off 70 balls) and captain Dhoni - as he did on Sunday - calmly reeling the target in at the death with an unbeaten 50, which contained no boundaries.
On that occasion, Sachin Tendulkar was bowled for a duck by a peach of a Lasith Malinga delivery, which shaped away and beat the Little Master all ends up.
Tendulkar, who was rested in Sunday's triumph over Australia as part of India's rotation policy, has a surprisingly poor ODI record at Adelaide Oval, averaging 21 and with a top score of 48 from seven games. After his rest, he will be keen to rectify this on Tuesday.
In contrast, Sangakkara (five matches, one century, average 63) has a fine record at the ground, as does Jayawardena (seven matches, one century, average 43), who was skipper when the two sides met at this ground four summers ago and has again recently assumed the captaincy from Tillekeratne Dilshan, who averages a spritely 56.50 from four Adelaide ODI appearances.
India have a healthy 6-5 win-loss record at the ground, compared to Sri Lanka's 3-12 clip. For all the islanders' defeats in South Australia, their most noteworthy fixture at Adelaide was a match they won - the controversial January 1999 clash against England.
Set a mammoth 303 to win, Sri Lanka prevailed in a cliff-hanger with one wicket in hand and two balls to spare.
Former spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan hit the winning run to cap a tumultuous day in which he was no-balled for throwing by umpire Ross Emerson from square leg during England's innings, a decision which resulted in Sri Lanka captain Arjuna Ranatunga leading his team off the pitch for 15 minutes in protest.
England skipper Alec Stewart described the game as “the least enjoyable cricket match” he had played in.
Fresh off Dhoni's last-over heroics on Sunday, another thriller could be in store between the 2011 World Cup finalists, hopefully minus the controversy.