India opener Virender Sehwag revealed his support was for Sri Lanka during his side's thrilling victory in the first one-dayer in Rajkot.

Sehwag hammered 146 in India's total of 414 for seven, but that score looked like it could be overtaken when Sri Lanka took up the challenge.

Tillakaratne Dilshan top-scored with 160, but Sri Lanka were eventually stopped just short at 411 for eight with India sneaking to a three-run victory.

Man-of-the-match Sehwag had to watch the finish from the dressing room as an injury early on during Sri Lanka's chase kept him out of the field for most of the second innings.

"I wasn't tense because I was supporting Sri Lanka," Sehwag explained.

"Perhaps it's a bit of superstition because whenever I support India we tend to lose. So, my support was for Sri Lanka."

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Sehwag now hopes to be fit for the second one-dayer in Nagpur on Friday.

"There is a little swelling in the knee, but it is getting better already thanks to Nitin Patel (the physiotherapist)," he said.

"He's working hard with me and I'm able to walk already. Hopefully, I will be fit for the next game."

Sehwag also had no complaints about his own performance in helping India set their total.

"I was in good form carrying on from the Tests and the Twenty20 games," he said.

Click here for Sehwag's images

"I just told myself I should utilise that form, play out the first 10-15 overs and then if it was my day I could score a 100 or more.

"I thought at the start 350 would have been a good total on this wicket and we were confident of achieving it with the kind of batting line-up we have.

"Sachin (Tendulkar) took a lot of pressure off me at the start and the opening stand set things up nicely."

Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara was proud of the way his team responded to a daunting total, even if they narrowly failed in their run-chase.

"It is worse to come this close and lose rather than lose by a huge margin," Sangakkara said.

"But I'm very proud of the team and the way they responded to this challenge.

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"When you are chasing a total of 400-plus you can either roll over and die or come out fighting.

"I'm proud of the way we came out and put on a good show."

Sri Lanka were well in control at the end of 35 overs when they had reached 291 for one, but the loss of a few quick wickets ultimately cost them.

"Perhaps we should have played it smart after 35 overs, knocked the ball around, rotated the strike and got as close as possible with wickets in hand," Sangakkara said.

"Unfortunately we had a couple of run outs there and India held their nerve a lot better than we did."

Sangakkara also believed his team could have done better in the field.

"In a sense, we did pretty well to come back and restrict India to 414, but we could have put in a little more effort in the field," he said.

"A few more bodies behind the ball, three, four runs stopped here or there and who knows? At the end of the day, four more runs to get and you have to accept the fact that India played slightly better than us.

"On grounds like this it is hard to contain sides. It must be heart-breaking for the bowlers to play on wickets like this, but you have to accept it. That's the way the world is going at the moment.

"We will come back hard in the next game and see what we can do."

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India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, normally an unflappable customer, admitted even he found the last few overs incredibly tense.

"It's hard to be cool when your side has scored 400 runs and then you find the opposition needs four or five runs off the last ball," Dhoni said.

"It was tough out there, but I think the way we played in the last 10 overs was really the difference.

"The way the guys fielded and the intensity they showed in that period was awesome.

"Overall, I am pretty pleased with the way the guys played although we were in a position to score close to 500 runs at one stage.

"We felt the wicket would get better and better to bat on and that is exactly what happened."