World Cup 2015: India send Ireland on a spin

No sooner had Virat Kohli stepped out of the crease and swatted Kevin O'Brien to the extra-cover boundary than Ravi Shastri stood up, cracked open a beer, took a swig and went on a high-fiving spree.

Just as Shastri proceeded to finish his bottle of pale ale, the folks at Star Sports requested their former colleague for an interview. Out came the shining blazer and, in his usual swagger, Shastri made his way to the region where Kohli had dispatched the ball. There, he was greeted by long-time mates Sunil Gavaskar and Gautam Bhimani. You probably saw the rest of it on the television. A few minutes later, Shastri returned to the dressing room and got hold of another cold one.

He had every reason to.

Apart from losing the toss and giving away 85 runs in the first 14 overs, India didn't put a foot wrong all day. With the pocket-sized Seddon Park baked in sunshine, the pitch playing slow, the grass banks bleeding blue and the DJ playing Jai Ho, MS Dhoni & Co. felt very much at home. Make that for the fifth straight game.

The contest, too, panned out on expected and repetitive lines. The bowlers scored another 'Perfect 10' to make it 50 wickets in five matches. The batsmen — in this case centurion Shikhar Dhawan and half-centurion Rohit Sharma — had another fruitful day in the middle. India won with more than an hour to spare, giving them enough time to unwind by showing off their footballing skills.

In the process, India assured themselves of top spot in Group 'B', took their winning streak in World Cup play to nine and reiterated the fact that it would take their challengers some doing to snatch that World Cup off their hands.

If openers William Porterfield and Paul Stirling came up with a plan to attack Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma, then Dhoni let them execute it. At the toss, he had said that "Hamilton is probably the slowest wicket" in New Zealand. In other words, he was only happy to bowl first. Just when the Irish thought they were on top, Dhoni played his spin cards, one by one. In all, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma bowled 30 out of 49 overs and accounted for four wickets. Part-timer Raina alone produced superb figures of 10-0-40-1.

But it was R Ashwin who was the best of them all. Imparting flight on the ball and using the entirety of the crease, he pegged the Irish back by operating with men around the bat. The results followed. Stirling, who batted well for 42, was forced into holing out to long-off. Then, Raina got into the act. He took Ed Joyce's stumps. Ireland's most accomplished batsman made only two. Porterfield, too, went into a shell. The boundaries dried up. At the halfway stage, Ireland were 113/2, at just 4.5 runs an over.

Then, 'The Men in Kelly Green' fought back through Niall O'Brien, who scored an authoritative 75 replete with meaty hits on either side. Dhoni missed a stumping chance offered by Porterfield, depriving Raina of another scalp, but Mohit got him in the next over for 67. Ireland collected 41 runs in the batting powerplay, but also lost the in-form Andy Balbirnie (24) and danger man Kevin O'Brien (1). The last 10 overs were a blur as Ireland went from 206/3 in 39 overs to 259 all out with Shami making amends for a poor first hour. He finished with 3/41.

India's response with the bat was emphatic to say the least. Rohit and Dhawan were their bossy selves all along, making full use of the shorter boundaries. In all, they smashed 14 fours and eight sixes. It was mayhem, but on projected lines. At one point, it seemed India would win with all their wickets intact. But a lapse in concentration saw Rohit play on a harmless delivery from Stuart Thompson. He made 64 off 66 balls, played some pleasing shots and batted for 100 minutes.

Dhawan made the most of the offerings that came his way and dominated the hapless attack which saw four out of the six concede more than seven runs an over. The other two weren't effective either. Dhawan, who trailed Rohit on many occasions, raced away after getting to his fifty with a six. He never looked back. So dominant were the openers that they added 174 runs in only 23.2 overs. Dhawan was dropped twice, but he put those episodes behind to complete his second hundred of the tournament. He needed just 84 balls to get there and was dismissed by Thompson soon after.

As the sun prepared to say goodbye, a cool breeze blew across Seddon Park. The temperature dipped by at least 10 degrees. But Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane were in no mood to cool down. Joining hands at the fall of Dhawan with 70 needed off 22.2 overs, they used only nine to get the job done. Probably they had football on their minds. Either way, Shastri was a happy man.

N Zone

174
The opening partnership between Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, the best for India in a World Cup match. It was India's sixth 100-plus opening stand in World Cups

8
No. of hundreds scored by Dhawan since 2013, the fourth-most by any batsman. Virat Kohli (9), Kumar Sangakkara (10) and Hashim Amla (10) have scored more

14
No. of Indian batsmen who have scored 4000-plus runs in ODIs. Rohit Sharma crossed the landmark on Tuesday in this 126th innings

9
No. of consecutive World Cup victories for Dhoni-led India, overtaking Sourav Ganguly-led team's eight wins in 2003. The record is 25 matches (Australia between 1999 and 2011)

12
No. of World Cup games Dhoni has won, the most by an Indian captain. He went past Kapil Dev's tally of 11

5
No. of consecutive ODIs in which India have bowled out their opposition, a first for them. The only team to have a longer streak in World Cups is South Africa, who bowled out their opposition six consecutive times in 2011

India's record WC run
Here's a look at the nine consecutive matches Dhoni & Co. have won in World Cups...

Year Opposition Margin
2011 West Indies 80 runs
2011 Australia 5 wickets
2011 Pakistan 29 runs
2011 Sri Lanka 6 wickets
2015 Pakistan 76 runs
2015 South Africa 130 runs
2015 UAE 9 wickets
2015 West Indies 4 wickets
2015 Ireland 8 wickets