It's never easy being the defending champions – the pressure is amped up and so are the expectations, with the need to get off to the perfect start in the defence of your title paramount. You also become the team everyone wants to beat, which only makes picking up that win all that more difficult.
So, when India were drawn to play Pakistan in their opening match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, all eyes were going to be on India and how they were going to begin the defence of their CT title.
Well, they showed they aren't going to let go of that trophy too easily by putting on a real statement against their biggest rivals at Edgbaston in Birmingham.
In a game that was interrupted a little too many times by rain, India could have easily been swept away by the breaks in momentum, but, to be fair, not for one moment did they look like picking up anything but a win in this game.
Despite losing the toss, the India batsmen went about putting up a big score on the board, a score which probably left the Pakistan side ruing their decision to bowl first.
Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, like they did so often four years ago, showed their potency as an opening partnership, and while one of them struggled a little to 91 runs – strange as it might sound when someone scores 91 – for India it was all about building that solid base, so that they could go slam-bang-thank-you-ma'am in the second half of the innings.
India could have easily lost their way when rain interrupted their innings twice, but they key that focus button locked on, with Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and Hardik Pandya adding the overdrive button towards the end as the Pakistan bowlers were sent to six-town at will.
The Indians were helped a little by an injury to Mohammad Amir, which prevented the bowler from completing his full quota of overs, but really, even if the left-armer had been able to bowl the 11 deliveries, India would have still ended up finishing with a score that would have been beyond the Pakistan batsmen – so good was the batting that MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav weren't even required.
And there never really was any doubt, once India finished on 319 for three in 48 overs – the match was reduced by two overs and then to 41 overs due to rain – who the winner was going to be.
This match was about making a statement for Virat Kohli's men and once the batsmen had done their jobs to a T, it was the turn of the bowlers.
The biggest improvement for India over the past few years has been their bowling – this is no longer a team that only rely on their batsmen, they have four or five world-class bowlers, capable of knocking down any team in the world – heck, so good is India's bowling at the moment, there is no place in the playing XI for R Ashwin.
And they showed why in the second innings.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav started out nicely, and once the first wicket fell, the dismissals just kept coming at regular intervals.
Pakistan were always behind the eight ball in this chase, and India never really allowed they to get ahead of the run rate.
This was as professional a performance as anyone could have asked for – ok, the fielding was abysmal and that needs to change – and with this performance, India have shown the rest of the contenders that they are determined to keep their hands on that title.
