India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has demanded a better performance from his players in the field despite their 46-run win over Sri Lanka in the final of the Compaq Cup triangular one-day series in Colombo.
India had piled on a formidable 319 for five, thanks to a magnificent 138 from man-of-the-match and man-of-the-series Sachin Tendulkar and 56 apiece from Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh.
Sri Lanka's openers Tillakaratne Dilshan (42) and Sanath Jayasuriya (36) had begun the chase in whirlwind fashion, but India's off-spinner Harbhajan Singh pulled things back by dismissing Dilshan.
The Punjab off-spinner went on to claim a five-wicket haul, but not before India were given a scare.
Kumar Sangakkara had led a revival and had kept the run-rate from ballooning with a knock of 33, while middle-order batsman Thilina Kandamby, who had struck an unbeaten career-best 91 not out in the previous game, again proved hard to dislodge.
Kandamy's knock had left Sri Lanka needing only 68 from the last 45 deliveries, but Harbhajan turned the match India's way by bowling Kandamby and wiping out the tail.
India had all along aided Sri Lanka's chase with a shoddy performance in the field.
Jayasuriya was dropped on 13, Dhoni missed an easy stumping chance off Sangakkara while he was on 28, Kandamby was grassed on 44 and several run out chances were laid waste.
Dhoni was understandably unhappy, saying: "We have got to learn from our mistakes and there were too many made on the field today.
"I think we put in a team effort there too - we just didn't field well as a team.
"It is crucial and more often than not you end up losing the game if you make as many mistakes as we did. But thanks to some solid performances from a few of the players we ended up on the winning side.
"It feels good to win the series and it's very special for us because it comes after a long time here. But we cannot afford to make mistakes especially if we want to sustain the kind of performances that we have had in the recent past.
"We have got to learn from our mistakes and we have to be at our best."
Dhoni was critical of the bowling as new ball bowlers Ishant Sharma and Ashish Nehra leaked runs at the start. Opener Dilshan's knock of 42 came off just 29 deliveries and contained nine boundaries.
"I think we gave Dilshan a lot of room to play his strokes and he's one batsman who relishes the opportunity when the ball is bowled just a short of length," Dhoni said.
"Hopefully, when we meet again, our bowlers won't give him the width because he can really hurt you and kill the team."
India had capped Virat Kohli at the expense of Dinesh Karthik and had shuffled the batting order to maximise the advantage of winning the toss.
Rahul Dravid opened the innings alongside Tendulkar while Dhoni promoted himself to first-drop. The changes worked and Dhoni credited Dravid for the move.
"It was only possible because Rahul agreed to open the innings," he said.
"His spot is at number three, but you don't want a situation where he is shunted lower down the order because he is the kind of batsman who can make a difference opening the innings rather than batting down the order.
"With Rahul opening, it gave us the opportunity to shuffle the batting and give the opposition a few surprises."
Sri Lankan skipper Sangakkara was also unhappy with his team's bowling and fielding.
"In the end it turned out to be a good game, but I thought there was a lot wanting from our fielding and bowling today," he said.
"As batsmen, I think we have to take more responsibility chasing totals, especially when you are never in form too often.
"And when you are in form you really need to maximise opportunities. But everyone batted well today, we had a great start and Kandamby proved to be the lynch pin again in the middle-order.
"We were in the hunt until the 42nd over."
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