© CricInfo

Laxman and Rahul Dravid steadied the Indian innings and put together a partnership of 84 runs for the third wicket, which proved to be a match winner. Dravid and Laxman blunted the Sri Lankan spin attack and made sure that Muttiah Muralitharan went wicketless in his ten over spell. Dravid played a sensible innings, though a bit slow for One-Day cricket, making 43 runs off 79 balls with the help of three boundaries. He played a loose shot of the bowling of Vaas and was caught behind, which also marked the Sri Lankan left arm pace bowler's 200 wickets in One-Day Internationals.