Virat shines against Sussex in warm-up match

India finally ended their
wretched form and registered
their first win on the England
tour by beating Sussex in a
warm-up match.
The Indian batsmen finally
struck form as they
successfully chased down a
score of 236 put up by Sussex
in first of the three warm-up
matches ahead of the ODI
series on Thursday.
Virat Kohli (71), Rohit Sharma
(61) and Parthiv Patel (55) hit
half centuries to help India win
by six wickets with 25 balls
remaining.
The match was reduced to 45-
overs-a-side match after
heavy downpour.
Earlier in the day, Indian
seamers led by Rudra Pratap
Singh bowled well in patches
as Sussex were bowled out for
236 in 45 overs.
RP who was punished on his
comeback to the Test arena in
the fourth and final Test at The
Oval snared four for 45 from
his nine overs, but Munaf Patel
who was made to cool his
heels for the entire Test series
was smashed for 52 runs in
his seven-over spell.
India fielded both Sachin
Tendulkar and skipper
Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the
playing XI as well as five
regular bowlers in a bid to be
better prepared for the ODIs
than they were for the Tests in
which they suffered a 4-0
whitewash.
Matt Machan (56) and Ben
Brown (48) top scored for
Sussex and had a good
partnership going for the
fourth wicket in which they put
up 65 runs.
Machan, 56 off 62 balls,
showed good energy between
the wickets even though he hit
no more than five fours. He
was dismissed after he offered
a return chance to Suresh
Raina.