(Reuters) – Avishka Fernando scored a stunning 96 and Dunith Wellalage took five wickets as Sri Lanka beat India by 110 runs in Colombo on Wednesday and secured their first bilateral one-day international series win over their South Asian neighbours in 27 years.

Facing a tough target of 249 runs to secure a 1-1 draw, India failed to gain momentum after losing their two most experienced batsmen, captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, for 138 in 26.1 overs.

Wellalage had Rohit caught for 35 after the Indian captain attacked early and the spinner then trapped Kohli lbw for 20, India could not stop the slide from there.

“I am a happy captain right now and I think the team did everything well during the series,” Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka said.

“We knew they had a very strong batting line-up and we just wanted to support our strength and our strength is spin bowling. We supported our spinners and they did (their job).”

Axar Patel and Shreyas Iyer also fell victim to Wellalage, who finished with figures of 5-27 after dismissing last man Kuldeep Yadav. Washington Sundar made a late comeback for India, making a well-made 30 but his effort went in vain.

The opening ODI ended in a dramatic draw before Sri Lanka secured a 32-run win in the second game. India had swept the previous Twenty20 series 3-0 in new head coach Gautam Gambhir’s first stint in that role.

Rohit said his team’s problems against spin were not a cause for concern yet but needed to be addressed.

“It was something we came under pressure for in this series. We need to look into it, talk about it and come up with a plan,” Rohit said.

Reacting harshly to a question about complacency within the team, the leader said that such a suggestion was a joke.

“There is no need to be complacent while playing for India. As long as I captain the team, that will not be the case,” Rohit added.

“We were outplayed throughout the series. You have to give it credit. Sri Lanka played better cricket than us.”

Sri Lanka elected to bat first after winning the toss and made a solid start in their quest to secure their first ODI series victory against India since 1997, with opening bowlers Pathum Nissanka and Fernando stitching an 89-run partnership.

The home side suffered a mini collapse when Nissanka was dismissed by Axar for 45 in the 20th over with Fernando and Kusal Mendis coming on as substitutes, but Riyan Parag ended an 82-run partnership on ODI debut.

Parag trapped Fernando lbw with a sliding shot towards the wicket just shy of his century and then dismissed captain Charith Asalanka and Wellalage to reduce Sri Lanka to 199-6, but Mendis scored 59 to ensure his team finished on a struggling 248-7.