5 things we learned from India’s emphatic win against Pakistan

Source: Live Images
Saket Parekar

They have made their doubters eat up their words. The defending champions have made it clear that they’re here to stay and the creators of the campaign called #WontGiveItBack can now heave a sigh of relief. Team India made a stunning start to the World Cup with a crushing win over arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday, teaching us a few important lessons along the way.

1. Form is temporary. Class is permanent.

Virat Kohli
Source: Live Images

Before you get all worked up about the clichéd phrase, here are two words for you: Virat Kohli. Every single time people write him off after a brief slump in form, call him a brat and unnecessarily scrutinise his romantic life and so on, he comes roaring back with an innings that shuts every single critic up. He is world class. Period.

2. Suresh Raina is a phenomenal ODI player.

Suresh Raina
Source: IANS

Say what you will about his struggles against the short ball, call him MS Dhoni’s pet or point out his inconsistency—it’s high time we accept the fact that Raina is an awesome ODI asset.

3. Indian bowling is not as bad as it seems.

Jadeja and Shami
Source: IANS

They have been media’s favourite target in recent times. But the performance of India’s bowling unit against Pakistan was disciplined, deadly and simply inspiring. They’re certainly not the worst bowlers out there, as we’re often led to believe.

4. India’s fielding is world-class

Indians celebrate Younis Khan's wicket
Source: Live Images

This has been said in the past. But Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja were sensational in the field on Sunday. The match against arch-rivals may have been an added motivation, but their spectacular efforts in the field frequently gave a huge lift to the bowlers.

5. Never write off MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni and Ajinkya Rahane
Source: Live Images

The biggest lesson of them all: MSD hasn’t lost his Midas touch. Just look at his attempted run-out, his decision to send Raina up the order, his bowling changes- he got pretty much everything right on Sunday.