Muralitharan needed two wickets at the start of the day to get past Wasim Akram´s record of 502 one-day victims, but could only claim the wicket of Yuvraj Singh in his eighth over to draw level with the Pakistani left-arm speedster. [break]
By then Yuvraj (117 off 95 deliveries) had all but batted Sri Lanka out of the series, putting on 221 runs at a blistering pace for the third wicket with Sehwag (116 off 90) as India finished with a formidable 363 for five.
Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha then claimed a career-best four for 38 from 10 overs as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 216 with 8.2 overs to spare.
Sri Lanka´s chase had stuttered at the start when Sanath Jayasuriya was bowled via an inside edge for a first-ball duck by Praveen Kumar.
Tillakaratne Dilshan (30) sparkled briefly before he was bowled by Zaheer Khan and captain Mahela Jayawardene´s resistance ended when he was caught by Sehwag off Praveen for 30.
Kumar Sangakkara (83) had valiantly held up one end even as wickets fell around him.
But once Ojha had the wicketkeeper-batsman dismissed, Sri Lanka´s innings folded.
Earlier, Yuvraj and Sehwag had ripped the bowling attack apart with a ferocity which left the local crowd stunned and Jayawardene bereft of ideas.
Yuvraj had joined opening batsman Sehwag at the crease when India had lost their second wicket - Gautam Gambhir for just 10 - and with a total of 24 runs on board.
Sachin Tendulkar (seven) was again the victim of a dubious lbw decision, but he had set the pace by hitting Dilhara Fernando for a six off his first legitimate delivery.
Fernando, who had come in for Thilan Thushara, had started his first one-dayer since November last year with a front-foot no ball.
Tendulkar thumped the free-hit for maximum, but the bowler had the last laugh when he accounted for Tendulkar off the last ball of the over.
Fernando was again fortunate when he deflected a drive from Sehwag onto the stumps at the non-striker´s end and caught Gambhir backing up too far.
Thereafter fortune deserted Sri Lanka as Yuvraj and Sehwag took centre stage.
The partnership was finally broken by Muralitharan, but Yusuf Pathan (59 not out) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (35 not out) completed the assault with an 85-run stand for the sixth wicket.
Muralitharan, who is already the world´s most successful bowler in Test cricket with 769 dismissals, had finished with one for 60 from 10 overs. His 502 wickets have come in 327 matches with an average of 22.67.
Akram took the same number of wickets in 356 matches at an average of 23.52 before retiring in 2003.
India will look to continue their quest for a whitewash of the five-match series in game four, also in Colombo, on Thursday.
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