Ruthless India sends ominous World Cup warning with another commanding thrashing, crushing, stomping, and steamrolling

 Ruthless India sends ominous World Cup warning with another commanding thrashing, crushing, stomping, and steamrolling

The best athletes and teams are the most brutal. They send out declarations of intent and purpose, telling anybody who will listen—and even those who won't—that they are a powerful force. Of course, they don't do it with words; instead, they let their deeds speak for themselves.

India is not now the favorite to win this World Cup. But among other things, playing in their own backyard and being the top-ranked ODI squad in the world have propelled them to that position. The fact that they just won their first title in five years after crushing Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final in Colombo last month hasn't helped either.

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In front of a shell-shocked, understandably pro-Sri Lankan audience at the R Premadasa Stadium, India had once shot Sri Lanka out for 50 with Mohammed Siraj running riot. India put down the World Cup gauntlet on Wednesday night at a boisterous Arun Jaitley Stadium in the nation's capital with a commanding all-around performance, coordinated by two of their most experienced talents.

It could be tempting to write off their eight-wicket victory against Afghanistan as simply being for Afghanistan, but doing so would be detrimental to both teams. Afghanistan isn't a cricketing powerhouse like England, India, or Australia, but in a very short amount of time, they have established themselves as true party crashers with a fantastic spin attack and a batting lineup that is only slowly coming to terms with the idea that runs can be scored without chasing boundaries with every ball.

Afghanistan decided to bat first in an effort to pressure India with their variety of spinners and score runs. If their ideas in either discipline didn't work out, credit Jasprit Bumrah's class and Rohit Sharma's radiance for it.

According to Afghan coach Jonathan Trott, on a fantastic batting surface where 350 was likely par, Bumrah produced a superb performance of quick bowling. He used all of his skill and expertise with the new ball, then in the middle innings, and lastly at the end, daring the hitters to take risks. That is not a smart move in the face of a Bumrah running on all cylinders. The control he displayed and the pressure he placed on the hitters made his four for 39 the talk of the town on any other night. But was this simply another evening, or something more?

Afghanistan could only score 272 for eight, which is respectable but not quite enough for them to make a match of it due to Bumrah's exceptional bowling and the combined strength of the Indian bowling (with the exception of Siraj, who had a rare off-day). At the interval, it was widely believed that India would win easily, maybe with seven or eight overs remaining.

How misguided that ended up being! When Virat Kohli scored the winning runs, India was out of trouble in 35 overs and only used about 90 deliveries. However, Kohli was only chowing down on Rohit's leftovers after the latter put the venue's bright lights to shame with a show-stopping display of strength and timing.

Rohit demolished Afghanistan's finest with a contempt that hardly registered on him, yet there was not the slightest hint of arrogance about him. When in top form, Rohit is a sight for the gods in both cricket and other sports. His dismissal of the Afghanistan bowling demonstrated the character of a champion performer who has great faith in his own abilities and who, in his capacity as captain, needed to make the runs that he will demand of his teammates in the future as the tournament progresses.

Every strike that emanated from his willow pierced the hearts of the Afghan people. They were aware that they were running away from everything and that there was nothing they could do to stop it. They put in a lot of effort, but Rohit's relentless, vicious attack rendered it useless. With a twist of the wrists or an extension of his arms, which his scimitar of a willow resembled, he could dispatch good deliveries. Even more brutally, the less-than-stellar ones were dealt with, sending fans scrambling for safety as the ball soared far into the bleachers.

The quickest century in World Cup history for an Indian came in sixty-three balls. India isn't here to play around, Rohit appeared to be saying, his actions easily teleporting the message. You got the message, skipper, loud and clear.