Colombo:India have won convincingly here. Sri Lanka started off well in the run chase and even when Sangakkara and Jayawardene were batting in the initial few overs, it seemed as though their team was still in the hunt. However, there was an unexpected interruption, and what followed was a fairly dull affair.

Both the batsmen struggled to force the pace after the break, struggled against Ojha and Sehwag - Sri Lanka failed to score a boundary in 21 overs - and there was an air of inevitability surrounding their eventual downfall.

Irfan Pathan had a satisfactory comeback, taking three wickets, albeit proving a little costly. Kulasekara provided some mild entertainment towards the end, but Sri Lanka never looked like they were going to win during their sudden change of gears in the middle passage.

Their only highlight of the day was Murali's record, but the fact that it has taken him four matches to take the three wickets he needed at the start of the series to overtake Wasim Akram is an indication of how well India's batsmen have handled him.

India have now won nine consecutive games - their best winning streak in ODIs - and Sri Lanka have one more match to salvage something out of what's been a distressing series.

Earlier, Dhoni won the toss forth time in series and decided to bat first. India lost their first wicket at the score of 14 as early in the third over of the innings. Sehwag tried to go over mid-off but didn’t get the required elevation and got caught by Sanath Jayasuriya, who dived on his left to take a low fine catch.

The huge Indian total of 332/5 was powered by Gautam Gambhir (150), skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (94) and an unbeaten 49 by Suresh Raina, who hit 4 fours and a six in his 37-ball knock.

Muttiah Muralitharan became the leading wicket-taker in ODI cricket when he scalped Gambhir, who became the first batsman in international cricket to hit 150 on Sri Lankan soil.

Yusuf Pathan, who hit a blistering half-century in the last match, edged the first ball onto his stumps to put Kulasekara on a hat-trick which was denied by Suresh Raina.

Zaheer Khan, Sachin Tendulkar have been rested as Rohit Sharma and Irfan Pathan replaced him in the squad for the fourth ODI while Sri Lanka have called in Angelo Mathews for Ajantha Mendis.

Brief Score: India 332/5 (Gambhir 150, Dhoni 94) beat Sri Lanka 265 (Sangakkara 56) by 67 runs