HAMILTON – Skipper MS Dhoni believes the ability to absorb the lessons of a winless tour of Australia has been the foundation of India’s success so far in the cricket World Cup.
India made it five victories from five pool matches with a comfortable eight-wicket result over Ireland in Hamilton.
With one round-robin fixture to go — against Zimbabwe in Auckland on Saturday — the defending champions are guaranteed to be the top-ranked nation from pool B ahead of the quarter-finals.
It has been a quick turnaround in fortunes for India, who earlier in the summer lost a four-Test series to Australia 2-0 and then failed to win a match in a one-day tri-series that also involved England.
“They say experience counts, but it wasn’t a very good one to have,” Dhoni said.
“At the same time, what was important was what you learn out of those series and I felt the boys absorbed that really well.”
Dhoni said the break between the end of India’s involvement in the tri-series in late January and the start of their World Cup campaign had also been a factor.
“We made a conscious attempt to take it as a break,” he said.
“Also the presence of the fans really helps. So many people are coming from India and, starting with the India-Pakistan game, that was fantastic.
“So that gives you that extra edge that pushes you one step further.”
India’s victory over Ireland featured opener Shikhar Dhawan’s second century of the tournament.
His 100 at Seddon Park was his eighth ODI ton and followed a career-high 137 against South Africa in Melbourne.
The 29-year-old left-hander had gone into the World Cup struggling for runs, after aggregating just 49 in four innings during the tri-series.
But Dhoni indicated that Dhawan had proved his pedigree, pointing to his player-of-the-tournament contribution to India’s Champions Trophy triumph in 2013.
“We’ve always believed in him,” he said.
“But the final step needs to be taken by the individual. I felt he prepared well for these ODIs and that’s what has really helped him score runs.”
