World Cup: India's bowling attack has transformed Dhoni's captaincy too

India set a new record by beating Ireland by eight wickets to post their ninth consecutive World Cup win under MS Dhoni. Shikhar Dhawan made his second century, R Ashwin teased and tormented and India bowled out yet another opposing batting side.

Here are three things we took from the game:

India’s spinners have thrown conventional wisdom out the window

For the first time in the World Cup, India’s fast bowlers got some humpty early. MS Dhoni had no option to but to turn to his spinners after nine overs. He needed someone, anyone, to slow down Ireland’s openers – William Porterfield and Paul Stirling – who were cantering along at over six runs an over.

But instead of getting defensive and trying to save runs, Dhoni attacked and tried to take wickets. He gave R Ashwin a slip and encouraged him to toss the ball up and ask the batsmen to go after him.

“I was prepared for them to come at me,” Ashwin said after Ireland’s innings. “I had only one plan. I wanted to keep them coming at me and keep bowling well.”

Ashwin particularly tormented the left-handers. Joyce managed a single from five balls. Niall O’Brien poked and prodded as if the ball was a poisonous snake, making just three runs from the first 17 deliveries Ashwin bowled to him.

At the other end, Suresh Raina was bowling flatter, fuller and quicker and the combination worked beautifully. Stirling chipped Ashwin to long-off. Ed Joyce was bowled by Suresh Raina. Just 36 runs came from 10 overs as the spinning ball flipped the momentum in the game on its head.

Ashwin bowled eight overs on the trot and his figures at that stage read 8-1-19-1. Raina bowled his 10 overs practically unchanged to finish with 1 for 40.

It isn’t just this game, either. Led by R Ashwin, India’s spinners have played prominent roles in every one of India’s give victories. In the era of small boundaries and big bats, in countries where seam typically rules the roost, India is showing good, attacking spin bowling can still be the ace up a team’s sleeve.

“After, the first three or four overs, I knew I could easily bring on the spinners but I thought I needed the fast bowlers to get hit because they have to plan their innings,” said Dhoni.

India’s bowling attack can’t take 20 wickets but they can take 50

For a long while now, the refrain about this India bowling attack has been that they can’t take 20 wickets outside India. India failed to take 20 wickets in eight of the nine Tests they played in 2014 – the Lord’s Test being the only exception.

India mixed and matched bowling combinations like a mad chef mixing ingredients. A bevy of seam bowlers walked in and out of the side. A leg-spinner, offspinner and two different left-arm spinners were swapped around. Nothing clicked.

And now, suddenly, it has. An injury to Ishant Sharma, opened the door for Mohit Sharma. Mohammed Shami found his mojo and Umesh Yadav is simply bowling fast. R Ashwin realized that “variations” does not mean bowling six diverse deliveries. He can simply bowl the same delivery at different speeds. In cricket, differences of degree can be more effective than differences of kind.

The result is a record five consecutive games where India have bowled out the opposition. Not a single team has managed to last the full 50 overs. Ireland has come closest, batting for 49 overs and their 259 is also the highest score India has conceded in the tournament.

The 2015 World Cup has been notable for its long list of high scores. Yet the only team to have conceded fewer runs than India is New Zealand, who have played all their games at home and whose bowling attack was expected to be one of the best in the tournament.

“Knowing the conditions has helped but it is a true fact that we have been here for four months,” Dhoni said after the game. “We had to sacrifice something and that was the intensity part.”

India cricket fans should hope the transformation lasts beyond the World Cup.

MS Dhoni sets another record

As captain, Dhoni has set a few records of a dubious kind in Test cricket but in ODI cricket, it has lately been all sunshine and roses. He went past Sourav Ganguly in the last game to become India’s winning-est captain away from home. By beating Ireland, he has matched Clive Lloyd for the second-longest winning streak in World Cup history with nine wins in a row, one more than Ganguly’s eight.

Nobody expected Dhoni’s India to get here but here they are, thanks in large part to the devastating effectiveness of the bowling attack. India and Dhoni are apparently mastering the art of coming alive in big ICC tournaments.

What has been particularly pleasing to see is the team’s desire to attack rather than defend. Some of this is down to the new fielding restrictions, which have made it harder to play defence, but it is also a reflection of how well the seamers and spinners have bowled. Freed from worrying about plugging gaps in the field, Dhoni’s brain has been able to devote his considerable powers to taking wickets.

If India can maintain this level of performance - sustaining such intensity for six weeks is not easy - the winning streak has the potential to translate into even greater glory.