A career-best 118 from Virat Kohli, made with the controversial use of a runner, saw India to an impressive five-wicket victory over Australia in the second one-day international.

Kohli's innings outshone that of fellow centurion Michael Clarke, but he also had Clarke's generosity to thank as the Australian captain allowed the 21-year-old a runner when he suffered cramp after just 31 overs of the innings. Allan Border would be horrified.

The use of runners by batsmen struggling with cramp has generally been a thorny issue, given that it is an injury tied to fitness and physical endurance, rather than a case of lack of the player suffering an unfortunate ailment during the game.

The nature of this game, effectively a friendly, might have changed the thinking. In the Champions Trophy last year Andrew Strauss denied his opposite number Graeme Smith a runner in a crucial encounter.

Clarke himself arrived at the crease in the fourth over of the Australian innings and batted all the way through, suffering occasional cramp in his arms on his way to 110 not out.

But on a hot and humid evening in Visakhapatnam he had the good grace to grant Kohli a runner when he struggled to limp between the wickets, and the Indian batsman responded by hammering his way to three figures as he set up the win for India.

The hosts started the match brightly when they reduced Australia to 16 for two in eight overs on a pitch that proved sluggish up front. Openers Shaun Marsh and Tim Paine both struggled to get the ball away early on and perished quickly, but the innings was rebuilt by a 144-run stand between Clarke and Mike Hussey.

Hussey was eventually trapped lbw by Ravinchadran Ashwin for 69 as the exhausted left-hander failed to read the length, but his departure only allowed Cameron White to come in and lay the platform for a monumental finish to the innings.

Clarke had dropped anchor, content to settle for a strike rate below 80, with the result that 250 appeared to be the target in Australia's minds. They went into the final 10 overs on 175 for three, but White changed all predictions when he strode imperiously to 89 not out from just 49 deliveries.

His last 70 runs came from an incredible 24 balls, and the last five overs cost India 84 runs as their seamers missed their yorkers time and again.

Australia went into the break with their tails up, and made the best possible start to their defence when Clint McKay bowled Shikhar Dhawan - one of four debutants in the match - with the second ball of the innings.

Murali Vijay was caught behind off the same bowler soon after, but just as Australia had rallied after a tough start, so India fought back through Kohli and Yuvraj Singh. The key for the home side was that they took less time to get the measure of the pitch than Clarke and Hussey had, and although there was a quiet period when Nathan Hauritz slowed their progress, the duo never let the required run rate get beyond them.

Yuvraj fell for 58 when he was bowled by the slowest of slow balls from McKay (three for 55), but his replacement Suresh Raina performed the perfect finishing job. He just about matched White's effort, striking nine fours and a six in a 47-ball 71.

A couple of late wickets, with Kohli followed back to the pavilion by first-ball duck MS Dhoni, gave Australia some hope, but Saurabh Tiwary struck the winning runs with seven balls remaining.

Runner or not, the innings looked to have signalled Kohli's coming of age, his exquisite timing backed up by the perfect measure of the chase.

Shot of the Day
Cameron White's first six was a beauty. Crucially he picked up the length early, realised it was there to be hit, and then drove hard straight through the line of the ball to send it back over the bowler's head for the full reward.

Delivery of the Day
It didn't take a wicket, but the ball Clint McKay produced to finish the ninth over was an absolute corker. Murali Vijay had just been removed, and Yuvraj Singh was chopped clean in half by one that nipped back off the seam and took extra bounce from back of a length.

Defining Moment of the Day
The two early setbacks suffered by Australia ultimately decided the game, because they forced Michaels Clarke and Hussey to take a cautious approach. Not even the incredible blitz from Cameron White could get the visitors to a winning total after they'd been handicapped early on. Credit, then, to the Indian opening bowlers Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra.

Tristan Holme