Hamilton: A scintillating century from Shikhar Dhawan helped India beat Ireland by eight wickets with 79 balls to spare in the World Cup league match played at Seddon Park, Hamilton on Tuesday. With this win, defending champions India recorded their fifth victory in a row at the World Cup and is already into the quarter-finals of the tournament.

Pakistan, Ireland and South Africa, who all have six points in five matches, will vie with the West Indies (four points) for the three remaining quarter-final spots on offer from Pool B.

Chasing a total of 260, Dhawan scored his second century of the tournament as India lost only two wickets in only 36.5 overs on a batting-friendly Seddon Park pitch. Dhawan and Rohit Sharma (64) put on their team's best World Cup opening stand of 174 against a struggling Irish attack.

Virat Kohli (44 not out) and Ajinkya Rahane (33 not out) wrapped up the chase with a 70-run unbeaten stand for the third wicket to give Dhoni his ninth straight win in the World Cup.

Earlier, Ireland’s decision to bat first seemed to be a good decision as captain Porterfield and Paul Stirling put on 89 for the first wicket from 15 overs.

But Mahendra Singh Dhoni turned to his spinners and Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina responded well by first frustrating then dismissing the Irish batsmen. Niall O'Brien was the top scorer with 75 including three sixes.