Sanath Jayasuriya after being bowled by Ajit Agarkar on Monday

Jaipur: With a dazzling array of strokes all over the park, Mahendra Singh Dhoni brought Diwali early as India crushed Sri Lanka by six wickets at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium on Monday to take a 3-0 lead in the seven-match ODI series.

The Team India wicketkeeper-batsman blazed an unbeaten 183 from 145 balls ? the highest ODI score by a gloveman ? as the hosts, chasing Sri Lanka’s 298 for four, coasted to 303 for four with 3.5 overs to spare.

Dhoni erased Australian Adam Gilchrist’s 172, hitting 10 sixes and 16 fours and completely overshadowed his counterpart Kumar Sangakkara’s career-best 138 not out, his fourth one-day century.

Dhoni’s knock fell 11 runs short of the ODI world record of 194 by Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar. This is the second-highest score by an Indian after Sachin Tendulkar’s 186 against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999.

His score equalled Sourav Ganguly’s 183 which also came against Sri Lanka at Taunton during a World Cup tie in 1999.

The 24-year-old put on valuable partnerships with Virender Sehwag (39) and captain Rahul Dravid (28) after the in-form Sachin Tendulkar was dismissed cheaply for two.

Dhoni brought the winning runs in style with a huge six off Tillekeratne Dilshan.

The Sri Lankans put up a much-improved performance with the bat, but their good work was undone by some unimaginative bowling on a batsman-friendly track. Muttiah Muralidharan emerged as the most successful bowler with figures of two for 46.

India started off on a disastrous note, losing Tendulkar in the very first over to Chaminda Vaas. Chasing a delivery outside the off-stump, the maestro ended up offering a catch to Sangakkara.

But Dhoni was in a belligerent mood, picking Farveez Mahroof for special treatment, hitting a six and two fours in the seventh over and another three fours in the bowler’s next over, prompting captain Maravan Atapattu to take him off after just two overs which cost 27 runs.

Dhoni and Sehwag then put on 92 runs off 85 balls for the second wicket. Vaas eventually trapped the Delhi opener for 39, which came off 37 balls with three fours.

But there was no stopping Dhoni who raced to 50 off 40 balls with six fours and three sixes and put on 86 runs with Dravid, who departed caught and bowled by Muralidharan with the scoreboard reading 185 for three.

Dhoni reached his 100 with an exquisite straight drive off Upul Chandana. He needed 85 balls to slam his second ODI century, an effort studded with 10 fours and five sixes.

The 24-year old then made Atapattu repent his decision to bring on Maharoof again, hitting the bowler for a six and a four to extract 14 runs. India’s 200 came in only 29.1 overs.

Earlier, Sangakkara joined forces with Mahela Jayawardene (71) to put on a 151-run partnership for the third wicket off 141 balls after Atapattu won the toss and elected to bat.

Overcoming a shaky start that saw them being reduced to 77 for two, the left-handed Sangakkara and Jayawardene helped their team hit the highest total ever at the ground and left India with a stiff asking rate of nearly six runs an over.

The 28-year-old Sangakkara, who slammed 13 fours and two sixes in his 147-ball knock, capped his superb show with a whirlwind unbeaten 50-run stand with Mahroof (33 off 16 balls, 4x4, 1x6) at the death to take the score almost to the 300-run mark.