CANTERBURY (KENT), Aug 27 (PTI): Virat Kohli shone with a stroke-filled 78 as a scratchy India eked out a thrilling five-run win over Kent in their rain-curtailed 20-overs-a-side practice match at the St Lawrence ground here.
Chasing India�s competitive 164 for six, Joe Denly turned out to be the lone warrior for Kent as he anchored the hosts innings with a 68-ball 100 last night.
Martin van Jaarsveld (17) and Darren Stevens (17) tried hard to give Denly support from the other end but once the centurion departed, Kent�s chase fell apart and the home team could only manage 159 runs for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs.
Left-arm seamer RP Singh was the most successful with the ball for India picking up two wickets for 36 runs while Munaf Patel (1/22) and R Ashwin (1/30) scalped a wicket each.
With the win over Kent last night, India registered their second victory on English soil in the ongoing tour.
The Indians had earlier defeated Sussex by six wickets in their first limited overs practice match at Hove on Thursday.
Sent into bat, Kohli slammed a quickfire 78 to help India post a competitive 164 for six.
Kohli started from where he left against Sussex and notched up his second half century of the tour in just 52 balls with the help of seven boundaries and three towering sixes.
India�s other half centurion against Sussex, Rohit Sharma, gave Kohli good support from the other end with a run-a-ball 30.
The duo shared 69 runs for the fourth wicket off just 48 deliveries to lay the foundation for India�s score, especially after the visitors lost both the openers � Parthiv Patel (1) and Rahul Dravid (15) � cheaply.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin played a good role down the order with a 12-ball 23, but captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina once again failed with the bat.
Dhoni had just arrived at 132 for four in the 17th over when he slammed his first ball from spinner James Tredwell hard only to be caught at mid-on.
A ball before, Kohli was run out after he was pushed for a non-existent second run by Raina, whose poor form continued as he could score just four before being bowled by Tredwell.
Torrential rains had earlier forced the 50-over-a-side match to be reduced to a Twenty20 fixture.
It was not the best of starts for India as they lost openers Parthiv and Dravid with the scoreboard reading 53.
While Parthiv edged one to wicket-keeper Geraint Jones, Dravid offered a difficult catch to Tredwell at mid-on off left-arm pacer Adam Ball.
For Kent, Tredwell turned out to be the pick of the bowlers grabbing two wickets for 18 runs.
SCORECARD
India: Parthiv Patel c Jones b Balcombe 1, Rahul Dravid c Tredwall b Ball 15, Virat Kohli run out 78, Rohit Sharma b Riley 30, Suresh Raina b Tredwell 4, Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Stevens b Tredwell 0, Ravichandran Ashwiin not out 23, Amit Mishra not out 5. Extras: (W-7, NB-1) 8. Total: (for 6 wkts in 20 overs) 166. Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-53, 3-122, 4-132, 5-132, 6-148. Bowling: Balcombe 3-0-23-1, Coles 4-0-35-0, Ball 3-0-20-1, Stevens 4-0-34-0, Riley 3-0-34-1, Tredwell 3-0-18-2.
Kent: Joe Denly b RP Singh 100, Daniel Bell-Drummond b RP Singh 11, Martin van Jaarsveld c Dravid b Ashwin 17, Darren Stevens b Patel 17, Sam Northeast run out 2, Geraint Jones not out 0. Extras: (LB-5, W-6, NB-1) 12. Total: (for 5 wkts in 20 overs) 159. Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-83, 3-156, 4-159, 5-159. Bowling: RP Singh 4-0-36-2, Vinay Kumar 4-0-29-0, Munaf 4-0-22-1, Mishra 4-0-37-0, Ashwin 4-0-30-1.
