Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara admitted his decision to experiment by batting first had failed after his team were outclassed by India.

Sangakkara won the toss - his fourth in a row - and decided to give his bowlers experience of dealing with the evening dew by choosing to bat first.

But India turned in a clinical all-round performance, Zaheer Khan and Amit Mishra setting up the victory by claiming three wickets apiece to restrict Sri Lanka to a meagre 213.

Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli then hit half-centuries while Dinesh Karthik provided a solid start with a knock of 48 at the top of the order as India eased to an eight-wicket victory inside 33 overs.

"We had to learn something today, but I don't think we learnt much," Sangakkara said.

"Luckily, it's not the final and hopefully we can take something out of this experience and prepare ourselves better.

"We did not have a predetermined total in mind; we were looking to take things as they came, play each over on merit and not get ahead of ourselves.

"But our batting effort today wasn't much to speak of.

"We have got to assess conditions, look to score runs and build partnerships.

"We have to make sure we are positive and focus on the task at hand rather than be worried about what the opposition or the batsman at the non-striker's end is doing.

"We know we are a much better team than this effort suggests, but we have a lot of hard work to do."

India secured their place in Wednesday's final with this victory and also rendered their match against Bangladesh today inconsequential.

But skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was looking for a similar effort against the home side tomorrow.

"We will take the final when it comes, but for now we are looking to concentrate on tomorrow's game," Dhoni said.

Dhoni was pleased with his team's effort.

"This was easily our best effort in the field in the last 12 months," he said.

"Zaheer was superb with the ball and it was an excellent effort form (Sudeep) Tyagi as well considering he is playing only his second ODI.

"This surface didn't offer too much turn, but Mishra varied his pace and length very well.

"The credit, however, should go to the fast bowlers for the kind of start they provided although when you are chasing only 215, it means everyone in the team did their part.

"Dinesh batted very well and it was unfortunate that he missed out on a half-century.

"Gambhir too had a big score for the taking, but wasn't able to capitalise.

"Kohli has been very consistent in the last few games and this augurs well for him and the team."

- (ESPN Star)