A nervous India survived a scare before scraping through to a three-wicket victory against Sri Lanka in a low-scoring thriller to level the five-match one-day series 1-1 today.


Pacemen Zaheer Khan (4/21) and Praveen Kumar (3/24) ripped through the Sri Lankan batting to bundle out the hosts for a paltry 142 in 38.3 overs before the Indians recovered from a top-order slump to cruise home with 10.2 overs to spare.


Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (39) played a pivotal role as he batted cautiously to help his team overhaul the target, making amends for India's humiliating eight wicket thrashing in the first one-dayer at the same venue on Monday.


Dhoni, who has now taken up the role of a finisher, was bowled by Dilhara Fernando with India still needing eight runs for victory. But the small target still seemed quite daunting as visitors lost the wicket of Harbhajan Singh before being able to heave a sigh of relief.


S Badrinath (27 not out) hit the winning stroke much to the delight of his teammates in a contest which saw fortune fluctuating from one team to the other till the very end.


Chasing Sri Lanka's modest target, the Indians themselves plunged into trouble straightaway after being reduced to a precarious 16 for two within five overs with makeshift opener Irfan Pathan (5) and Suresh Raina (1) returning to the pavilion cheaply.


The going got tough for the visitors as Virat Kohli (37), Yuvraj Singh (20) and Rohit Sharma (0) also perished in quick succession to leave India's hopes in tatters.


Paceman Nuwan Kulasekara provided the early breakthroughs for his team by accounting for Pathan and Raina while Thilina Tushara also chipped in with two wickets in his first spell.


With the Indians reeling at 75 for five, captain Dhoni and S Badrinath, drafted into the team in place of an indisposed Gautam Gambhir, steadied the innings by batting sensibly on a track which provided assistance to the pace bowlers.


Dhoni was quite content in curbing his natural strokeplay and kept the scoreboard moving with gentle nudges and pushes and found good support from Badrinath who looked quite composed at the middle.


The duo took the score close to the victory target to put the pressure back on the hosts, prompting captain Mahela Jayawardene to turn to his spin trumpcards Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis to break the partnership.