Pakistan's jinx remained and India's dominance against their biggest rivals continued at the World Cup. After India's thoroughly impressive performance against Pakistan in their Pool B match in Adelaide, here are a few talking points to take from the match.
Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina score runs .... What a relief for India: While India's bowling has always been suspect, what has never been in doubt is their batting. Those doubts crept in recently, however, with their performances in the tri-series. What better platform, though to banish those doubts than against Pakistan in the World Cup opener.
Dhawan and Kohli were composed and assured, while Raina was at his marauding best. Their form bodes well for India in the upcoming matches.
Pakistan's death bowling: What a brilliant performance it was from Sohail Khan and Wahab Riaz to stop the Indian batting juggernaut in the final five overs. Only 27 runs were scored in the last 30 balls, and if Wahab and Sohail Khan bowl in a similar manner in the coming matches, then they will give their batsmen plenty of room to win matches.
India bowling is not that bad you know: There has always been the potential hasn't there? All that was missing was the consistency. It was far from a perfect bowling performance from India, but it was the start of what could be a really effective bowling side. Mohammad Shami finally looked like Mohammad Shami, while Umesh Yadav showed his knack for picking up wickets again, even if he was a little too wayward for comfort.
Mohit Sharma's defensive, containing bowling was quite impressive, and R Ashwin actually bowled like an off-spinner, rather than a leg-spinner, a seam-up man, a carom ball man or whatever has caught his mood in the recent past. If the batting gives their bowling the confidence with big scores, then this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Will someone please support Misbah: The amount of times Misbah is left with too much to do for Pakistan is getting ridiculous. The man is human after all and when you are chasing 300 against the defending world champions, you need some help. Sadly that help did not come Misbah's way in Adelaide on Sunday, and if it doesn't come often enough, there will be a lot of disappointed Pakistani fans sooner rather than later.
Dhoni is the captain numero uno: What raised quite a few eyebrows during the game was when the results of a poll on the ICC website was shown. The question was: "Which is MS Dhoni's greatest asset – his batting, his wicketkeeping or his captaincy? And surprisingly more than 70 percent of them chose wicketkeeping, which surely should have been the third choice.
The India skipper is equally good at all – he is a ridiculously good ODI batsman, rarely makes mistakes with the gloves, but itis his captaincy that just draws out that awe in you more.
Against Pakistan, in the most high-pressure of games, Dhoni the captain was at his best – setting the right fields at the right time, and bringing the right bowlers at the right time. India will hope Dhoni the captain, Dhoni the batsman and Dhoni the wicketkeeper continue on their merry way at this World Cup, because then it will be hunky dory for the defending champs.
