Indians sneak past Kent in rain-hit match

Virat Kohli scored a stroke-filled 78 as a scratchy India registered a thrilling five-run victory over Kent in a rain-curtailed 20-overs-a-side practice match at the St Lawrence ground in Canterbury on Friday night.

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.

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 muster 159 runs for the loss of five wickets in the 20 overs.

Left-arm seamer RP Singh was the most successful Indian bowler, picking two wickets for 36 runs, while Munaf Patel (1/22) and R Ashwin (1/30) bagged a wicket each.

The win over Kent is India's second victory on English soil on the ongoing tour.

The Indians defeated Sussex by six wickets in their first limited-overs practice match at Hove on Thursday.

Sent in to bat, India lost openers Parthiv and Dravid with the scoreboard reading 53.

While Parthiv edged one to wicketkeeper Geraint Jones, Dravid offered a difficult catch to spinner James Tredwell at mid-on off left-arm pacer Adam Ball.

Kohli started from where he left against Sussex and notched his second half century of the tour, off just 52 balls, inclusive of seven boundaries and three towering sixes.

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 (1) and Dravid (15) -- cheaply.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin played a good hand down the order with a 12-ball 23, but captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina again failed with the bat.

Dhoni's first-ball duck sent tongues wagging at a packed St Lawrence ground. He had just arrived at the crease with the total 132 for four in the 17th over, and slammed the first ball he faced, from spinner James Tredwell, hard but uppishly for a catch to 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 rain had earlier forced the 50-overs-a-side match to be reduced to a Twenty20 fixture.

For Kent, Tredwell turned out to be the pick of the bowlers, claiming 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.