The final one-dayer between India and Sri Lanka was called off due to unfit playing conditions at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground.

Sri Lanka were put in to bat on a surface that had an uneven sprinkling of grass on it, and they were 83 for five in 23.3 overs when match officials deemed the surface too treacherous for play to continue.

Following a midfield conference between Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara, his India counterpart Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the on-field umpires and match referee Alan Hurst, play was temporarily suspended.

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The officials, who were joined by members of the staging association, headed for the pavilion for a closed-room discussion before the match was eventually called off.

The pitch at the Ferozeshah Kotla was relaid in April but came in for fierce criticism during the Champions League and the one-day series against Australia due to its low bounce.

The groundsman had attempted to remedy the situation by binding it with winter grass in time for this game but only succeeded in making matters worse.

The start was delayed slightly due to early morning fog and, when play began, India's bowlers, aided generously by a surface that provided considerable variable bounce, left Sri Lanka in disarray.

Zaheer Khan provided early sparkle for a sizeable turnout, bowling Upul Tharanga through the gate with the first delivery of the match.

Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya battled on and helped the visitors recover some ground, both living dangerously in that period.

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Dilshan was then rapped on the elbow by a delivery from Nehra that took off from a good length, resulting in a delay in proceedings as he received treatment.

Jayasuriya was also hit on the gloves by a delivery and play was stopped for the third time as he was attended to by the physio.

Both batsman fell almost immediately after those blows and Sri Lanka slipped to 63 for five, although Sangakkara and Thilan Samaraweera proved their own undoing.

Thilina Kandamby and Muthumudalige Pushpakumara dug in, although both batsmen struggled to fend off deliveries that exploded off the surface.

Things came to a head when a delivery from debutant Sudeep Tyagi again took off from a good length and flew well over Kandamby's head, Dhoni only managing to collect with a timely leap.

Kandamby then spoke to Dhoni before approaching the two umpires - Marais Erasmus of South Africa and local umpire Shavir Tarapore.

They were joined by Sri Lanka captain Sangakkara and Hurst in an on-field discussion that resulted in players leaving the field - for the final time.

India had already taken a 3-1 lead in the five-match series going into today's match.

The last time a game was called off in similar circumstances in India was more than 12 years ago in Indore. Sri Lanka were the visiting team that time, too.

Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Sudeep Tyagi.

Sri Lanka: Kumar Sangakkara (C), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Thilan Samaraweera, Sanath Jayasuriya, Thilan Kandamby, Thissera Perera, M Pushpakumara, Chanaka Welegedara, Suranga Lakmal and Suraj Randiv.