Kohli makes a difference in India's World Cup win v Pakistan

ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — As much as he didn't like being compared with Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli did manage to achieve one thing the India batting great never did at the World Cup by scoring a century against Pakistan.

Heading into Sunday's grudge match at the Adelaide Oval, the now-retired Tendulkar built up the significance of an India-Pakistan World Cup match, saying it had the atmosphere of a final. The fact that hundreds of millions of people in the subcontinent were following it, and a stadium full of India and Pakistan fans traveled to Adelaide to watch the opening Pool B match live, added weight to his claims.

After a run of single-digit innings in a limited-overs tri-series against Australia and England in the leadup to the tournament, Kohli seized his moment on Sunday to score 107 and share two pivotal partnerships with Shikhar Dhawan (73) and Suresh Raina (74) that took the momentum away from Pakistan. His 128-ball knock contained eight boundaries and helped India reach 300-7 after winning the toss and batting. The bowlers did the rest, with Mohammed Shami taking 4-35 to help dismiss the opposition for 224, ensuring India extended its streak of World Cup wins against Pakistan to six.

"It's probably one of the biggest I've had in my career right now. An amazing way for us to kick off the World Cup," said Kohli, who became the first Indian batsman to score a century against Pakistan at the World Cup. "Very important pressure game against Pakistan — always a great fight from them we get.

"Amazing way for us to kick off the World Cup. Good to get that win under the belt."

For Kohli, it was a 22nd hundred in limited-overs internationals, and a second at the World Cup following a century during India's run to the title on home soil in 2011.

Tendulkar scored 98 in the Centurion clash in 2003 — the previous highest for an Indian batsman against Pakistan at the World Cup. Tendulkar played in all five previous wins over Pakistan, including the semifinal win at Mohali in 2011, the match immediately before he finally won a World Cup title to go with all of his string of batting records.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who led India to its triumph four years ago, was always confident his lineup would start the World Cup well despite failing to win a competitive match in Australia in the last two months — a stretch that included a test-series loss when Kohli scored centuries in each innings of the match at Adelaide.

"Start of the world cup gets you going," he said. "Our approach was always positive — in this game it clicked together."

Dhoni said the foundations laid by Kohli, Dhawan and Raina gave India the perfect platform to push for victory against Pakistan.

"That long partnership between Virat and Shikhar was a crucial aspect," he said. "All three of them batted really well, at the right time they accelerated, which I felt was good."

He said there was no magical ingredient, either for the return to form or the unbeaten World Cup streak against Pakistan, except for trust and confidence among teammates.

"I felt the guys did really well because a World Cup opening game against Pakistan, it is a high-stake game," he said. "But at the same time we don't want to give it too much of an importance because irrespective of whether you're playing Pakistan or Australia, the games are important. You get the same number of points. Your run rate, depending on the margin you win, it's the same. I feel we try to keep it as normal as possible, and to a lot of extent we were able to do that."

India will have a week to prepare for its next assignment against South Africa, another of the top title contenders, which opened with a lopsided win over Zimbabwe.