You expect a close contest in an India-Pakistan match, but none of the two teams or a die-hard fan on either side of the border would mind winning in whatever manner it comes.
Sunday was one such day when India played like World Champions, making a strong announcement through a 76-run convincing win that their title defence will
have a lot of muscle.Shikhar Dhawan and Indian bowling had a lot said and written about it, and those two, along with Virat Kohli (107), rose to the big occasion at the Adelaide Oval to eventually win a contest where, despite the heroics of Sohail Khan (5/55) and Misbah-ul-Haq (76*), they came a poor second after India decided to put runs on the board and put a lot - 300 for 7.
Mohammad Shami (4 for 35) and Umesh Yadav (2 for 50) and hunted in pairs and were well assisted by Mohit Sharma (2 for 35), while spin twins R Ashwin and Jadeja took care of one Pakistani each.
Earlier, Kohli became the first Indian batsman to score a century against Pakistan in World Cup after Sachin Tendulkar missed it narrowly in 2003, when he was dismissed by Shoaib Akhtar for 98.
What stood out was India's intent and body language, especially of the bowlers, who, until Sunday, looked down and out, but put up a spirited performance that should lift India as they had beaten only Afghanistan before Sunday in over three months in Australia.
But it was Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan (73) who rose to the occasion after an ordinary tri-series against Australia and England. Dhawan's opening slot was under the cloud while Kohli, who was tried at No. 4 in the tri-series, returned to his favourite one-drop position and made it count.
Dhawan, who didn't step back when tested with a few words, wasn't perturbed by losing his partner Rohit Sharma, who became Khan's first victim, scoring only 15.
But from that point on, it was all Dhawan and Kohli, who added 129 runs for the second wicket - going from being conservative to cumulative to aggressive. Dhawan fell against the run of play when was run out off a direct hit from Misbah.
And Pakistan's pain didn't stop there. Raina came in and took the game by the scruff of its neck. He came down the track and lifted spinners Yasir Shah, Shahid Afridi and Haris Sohail with equal ease. And when it came to handling pacers, who tried to bounce him out, Raina looked to handling his shortcoming quite well. He scored 74 off 56 balls.
Of the three, only Kohli went on to complete his century before being dismissed by Sohail in the 46th over by Khan, who suffocated India for runs in the last five overs, where they scored just 27 runs and lost 5 wickets. It was only off a couple from the last ball of the 50th over that India touched 300 after MS Dhoni (18), Ravindra Jadeja (3) and Rahane (0) failed to up the ante.
Pakistan began their chase on a surprise note, asking Younis Khan to accompany Ahmed Shehzad on top of the innings, which is where they made the first mistake. Younis hadn't done anything of note in the two ODIs in New Zealand just before the World Cup.
What was expected happened as Younis scored just 6 before being sent back by Shami.
Shehzad (47) and Haris Sohail (36) were batting solidly at 79 for 1 in the 18th over when the latter edged one to Raina in the slips.
Soon three wickets - Shehzad, Sohaib Maqsood (0) and Umar Akmal (0) - in the span of eight deliveries turned the match in favour of the two-time champions. Suddenly from 102/2, Pakistan were tottering at 103/5.
The Pakistani lower order could not offer much of a fight and the only person between India and their victory was captain Misbah, who scored his 39th half-century. He kept running out of partners and was eventually caught at mid-wicket in the 46th over.
Pacer Shami was the pick of the Indian bowlers while Ashwin's 1 for 41 included three maidens.
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