Leicester, Aug 29: Seamer R Vinay Kumar returned with a three-wicket haul as India recorded yet another victory in a practice match, inflicting a narrow 15-run defeat on Leicestershire in a Twenty20 fixture at Grace Road here today.
The visitors rattled up 161 for five after being put in to bat and bowled with discipline to restrict the domestic T20 champions to 146 for seven in the stipulated 20 overs.
This is India's third successive win in practice games, before heading to a one-off Twenty20 and five one-day internationals from here on.
Vinay Kumar was the hero of India's win, bowling his four overs for only 29 runs and picking up three smart wickets to bog down the local team.
Indians made their runs collectively with openers Parthiv Patel (40) and Ajinkya Rahane (19) giving a good start of 52 runs from 5.4 overs and later Rohit Sharma (29) and Suresh Raina (21) providing a good flourish in the end.
In between Rahul Dravid contributed 29 but his attempts at slogging didn't go with his elegant batting style.
Leicestershire lost an early wicket to Praveen Kumar but then Andrew McDonald (44) and Will Jefferson (20) appeared threatening for a while.
However Vinay Kumar bowled an excellent spell in middle overs and two spinners, Amit Mishra and Ravichandran Ashwin, were excellent foils as Indians tightened the screws. PTI
