Hove, Aug 25: Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma propelled the Indians to their first victory in England as the visitors beat Sussex by six wickets in a rain-interrupted match. The youngsters helped the Indians reach the revised target of 235 runs with 4.1 overs to spare at the County Ground here.

Earlier, the Indians’ captain MS Dhoni won the toss and opted to field first in overcast conditions in the 45-overs a side match. Praveen Kumar gave the Indians their first breakthrough by removing opener Luke Wells in the third over. RP Singh followed suit by dismissing Chris Nash and Lou Vincent to have the hosts tottering at 58 for three wickets in the 13th over. However, Joe Gatting (46 runs), Matt Machan (56 runs) and Ben Brown (58 runs) built modest partnerships to help Sussex reach 236 runs in their allotted overs. The fall of Brown’s wicket saw the lower-order wickets fall in quick succession as the Indians wrapped up the Sussex innings in 45 overs.

RP Singh was the pick of the Indians’ bowlers with a four-for while Kumar, R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Munaf Patel and Suresh Raina chipped in with a wicket each.

The Indians began their chase with a 41-run opening stand between Parthiv Patel and Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar’s 17-ball cameo of 21 included four boundaries; Chris Liddle grabbed the prized wicket. Virat Kohli then joined Patel at the crease and the duo added 63 runs for the second wicket before Patel was bowled for 55 runs. Rohit Sharma, who replaced Patel, stitched a 104-run partnership with Kohli before the latter departed for 71 runs. Remaining unbeaten on 61 runs, Sharma saw the Indians through to their first success of the tour with Dhoni at the other end.

Brief Scores: Sussex236 all out in 45 overs (M Machan 56, B Brown 48, J Gatting 46, RP Singh 4/45) lost to India 238/4 in 40.5 overs (V Kohli 71, RG Sharma 61, P Patel 55) by six wickets