India crush Ireland by 8 wickets, tops Group B

Shikhar Dhawan cracked a scintillating century as a rampaging India today created a record winning their ninth consecutive ICC Cricket World Cup match by demolishing Ireland by eight wickets to seal the top spot in the Group-B table.

Chasing a respectable Ireland total of 259, opener Shikhar Dhawan (100 off 85 balls) sent the Irish bowlers on a leatherhunt en route his eighth ODI hundred as the defending champions reached the target in 36.5 overs to record their fifth consecutive win in this tournament.

With Rohit Sharma (64, 66 balls) for company, Dhawan added a record 174 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform as India took the top position in group B with 10 points from five games.

While Dhawan had 11 fours and five sixes in his innings, Rohit's second half century in the tournament had three fours and three effortless sixes.

It turned out to be an extended batting practice session for the 'Men In Blue' as they toppled the previous eight-match winning streak record of Sourav Ganguly-led team in 2003. India's nine-match record started from their group league game against West Indies at Chennai back in 2011.

While 260 was not a tall order for India's formidable batting line-up, the flat deck at the Seddon Park made the life for inexperienced Irish pacers even more difficult.

The in-fom Dhawan started the onslaught with some power packed boundaries as he recorded his second century in the mega event. It had the muscular pull-shots, the precision shots like cuts and cover drive bisecting fielders in the off-side cordon and the lofted six.

But one shot that would stand out would be the six off left-arm spinner George Dockrell. It was a tossed up delivery and he had failed to reach to the pitch of the delivery but still went through with the shot as the bottom hand came off the handle. The ball went sailing over long on fence for a six.

When the seamers bowled, the short ball went in the region between mid-wicket and deep mid-wicket while the fuller deliveries were hit straight with utter disdain.

Dhawan's second World Cup ton came off 84 balls and he was out immediately as rival skipper William Porterfield took a smart catch running backwards.