India captain MS Dhoni was battling a fever as well as Sri Lanka's bowlers during the fourth ODI on Wednesday.

India's third successive win saw the visitors secure their first bilateral series win in Sri Lanka since 1985.

Dhoni had to call for a runner during his innings, but insisted it was not due to the humid conditions.

"I had a fever yesterday and hadn't recovered fully," he said during the presentation ceremony.

"The heat was coming more from the inside rather than the weather and at times I felt as if I would explode.

"It was a struggle out there, but getting a half-century was a boost and it helped me carry on."

The India skipper lamented his side's poor middle order batting and claimed that quick dismissals cost them at least 20 runs.

"I think Suresh (Raina) batted very, but we got out too quickly together. We would have easily added another 20 or 30 runs had one of us stayed till the end.

"We didn't score too many runs in the last 10 overs and that was a negative in this game, but overall, I'm very happy with our performance."

Dhoni was full of praise for his bowlers who performed well with the new ball and managed to bowl out the Sri Lankans for 212.

"It's essential to get wickets first up and I think Zaheer (Khan) and Praveen (Kumar) have handled the new ball very well.

"Praveen didn't do too well in this match, but then Munaf (Patel) stepped in."

"It's good to the players backing each other and stepping in to shoulder responsibility when someone else fails.

"It has been the case with our batting as well and we've been fielding well too."

Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene complimented India on a deserved win, and refused to blame losing the toss for his side's demise.

"There is a certain advantage in winning the toss," he said.

"The spinners get more purchase towards the latter part of the innings and when you lose wickets its always going to be tough.

"You can't take anything away from India's win. They won the toss, put the runs on the board and then put us under pressure by picking up those wickets."

Jayawardene also hailed Sanath Jayasuriya after the opener top scored with 60 to give the hosts the ideal start.

"Sanath (Jayasuriya) got us off to a good start and it was good to see him coming to the party," he added.

"A good start is something which we had lacked in previous matches. He gave us that in this match, but unfortunately, we could not follow it up and could not get a good partnership going.

"In the end, after losing all those wickets, we finished 40 runs short which perhaps we could have got had we had wickets in hand."