The Indian Oil Cup 2005 was a three-team One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament held in Sri Lanka between 30 July and 7 August 2005.

Opting to bat first, India got off to a poor start losing Virender Sehwag in the third over, after he scored three fours off Farveez Maharoof and Dilhara Lokuhettige.

Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan added 20 each, however, which coupled with Irfan Pathan's slow but steady 21, lifted India to a somewhat competitive score of 205/9 at the end of 50 overs.

But Harbhajan Singh's off-breaks two players to miss their shots, and suddenly the score was 112/5, with an injured Jayasuriya and debutante Dilhara Lokuhettige at the crease.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni took his place with ease, smashing a four and a six on the way to an unbeaten 15, and India reached the target with fourteen overs to spare.

Russel Arnold made an unbeaten 21 and pairing up with Upul Chandana (15*) for 36 for the seventh wicket, saw Sri Lanka to the 50-over mark on 241/6.

Deonarine inside-edged a delivery from Dilhara Fernando back onto his own stumps for 23, Ramdin departed for 29 in the 37th over after a 46-run partnership, and Smith was bowled by Muralitharan for 69.

The debutant, Pradeep Jayaprakashdaran, picked up Sehwag's wicket, and was economical, conceding only 21 in his six overs, that included five wides.

V. V. S. Laxman departed first for 22, Ganguly quickly following suit after having scored 51 off 110 deliveries, in the process reaching 10,000 ODI runs, and Dravid, done in by the drift, was bowled by Dilshan for a golden duck.

[10] For India, Irfan Pathan, Lakshmipathy Balaji and Ashish Nehra took four wickets together and toiled away; another fell to a run-out, and Harbhajan Singh had Dilhara Lokuhettige caught behind for a six-ball duck.

Chanderpaul (57) put on a 72-run stand with Sylvester Joseph (58) for the second wicket, the team's highest second-wicket partnership in any form of cricket since early May 2005.

Banks finished with 26 runs from his ten overs, securing the wicket of Chandana, following which Sri Lanka felt were compelled to lash out in order to have a go at reaching the target.

The part-timer Deonarine got two wickets, including the final one of Russel Arnold, who made a slow 59, before bowling Sri Lanka out to 193 at the end of the 47th over, thereby helping his team win their first game of the tournament.

It was enough to send Sourav Ganguly out of the match with an arm injury in the fourth over, and Virender Sehwag and V. V. S. Laxman were also dismissed early.

Sri Lanka sent in a pinch hitter in Dilhara who hit two fours and a single off seven deliveries before being dubiously adjudged lbw, again from Nehra.

By that time, however, he had steadied the ship with Jayawardene, and Arnold helped to up the pace - the score being 122 for 4 after 26 overs, when Jayasuriya was out.

It did not matter, as Arnold and Jayawardene treated the spinners with disdain, plundering 125 runs in 20 overs and accelerating the scoring to a point where India could not keep up.

Nehra tried, and his variations gave him more wickets - he finished with the second six-wicket-haul of his career, the first coming against England in the 2003 World Cup, but a returning Vaas helped himself to 18 not out and upped the total to 281 for 9.

None of the batsmen from seven to eleven managed to get into double figures, Kaif was left to injudicious hitting and naturally top-edged one to midwicket, and India's chase - thought to be relatively simple fifteen overs before - ended a whole 18 runs short of Sri Lanka's total.