Hove, Sussex: Aided by half centuries from Virat Kohli (71), Rohit Sharma (61*) and Parthiv Patel (55), India registered their first win of the England tour by beating Sussex by six wickets in a one day international (ODI) practice game at Hove on Thursday.
Chasing a winning target of 237 in 45 overs, India finished at 238/4 in 40.5 overs as victory was achieved with 25 balls to spare.
The Indians looked in control even though Sachin Tendulkar (21) did not last long as Patel, Kohli and Sharma played around with an average home attack.
Kohli's knock came from 83 balls and included six fours and a six. Sharma's unbeaten 61 came from 65 balls and studded with eight fours and a six.
Tendullkar played some gorgeous strokes before he spooned up a catch at mid-off against left-arm paceman Chris Liddle.
As many as four fours were hit by Tendulkar in his brief 17-ball knock.
Patel was similarly aggressive, relying a great deal on chipped shots behind square before he played back to off-spinner Chris Nash and missed the line completely. He made his 55 runs from 65 balls and slammed nine fours.
But Kohli and Sharma then took over and literally toyed with the home side attack, running their singles crisply and hitting big shots at will.
Earlier, Sussex lost their last five wickets for 18 runs to be dismissed for 236 off the last ball of their allotted 45 overs.
RP Singh took 4/45 for the Indians while Matt Machan struck 56 off 71 balls for the hosts in a clash which was interrupted on three occasions because of rain.
Praveen Kumar provided India with an early breakthrough when he sent back Luke Wells after MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl first in a delayed start to the match because of damp conditions.
RP then struck by getting the wickets of Lou Vincent (14) and CD Nash (24) as India kept a check on the Sussex innings.
Sussex lost their fourth wicket when Joe Gatting (46) was dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin.
Joe Gatting and Machan then put on 47 runs for the fourth wicket before the former was bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin for 46.
A 65 run partnership between Machan and Ben Brown then took the Sussex total to 170 before Suresh Raina caught Mahan off his own bowling to leave the home team five down.
RP then returned to take two of the last five wickets to fall as the Sussex innings came to a tame end.
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