WC 2015: Mahendra Singh Dhoni inches closer to Ricky Ponting’s record
Hamilton: With nine straight World Cup wins under their belt, the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led India stand only second to Ricky Ponting's Australian side that registered 24 consecutive victories at the showpiece event.
India now stand second alongside Clive Lloyd's West Indies in terms of consecutive victories in World Cup. The eight-wicket win against Ireland here on Tuesday was India's ninth in the quadrennial extravaganza, the run starting with the victory over the West Indies in the previous edition.
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They comfortably took the top spot in pool B as Dhoni also overtook former captain Sourav Ganguly, who had led the Men in Blue to eight consecutive World Cup wins in the mega event.
It was against the West Indies on March 6 that Dhoni overtook Ganguly for most overseas ODI wins as a captain. Dhoni's India surpassed Ganguly's record of 58 wins in 110 matches, at the WACA last week.
Dhoni is also credited with most wins (12) by an Indian captain in World Cups. He has overtaken 1983 World Cup-winning skipper Kapil Dev (11), Mohammed Azharuddin (10) and Ganguly (9).
'Captain Cool' though chose to stay humble when reminded of the feat.
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"As far as the records and milestones are concerned, the most important thing is winning the game for your country. It doesn't really matter what the milestone is.
"Definitely it's something that every player will be proud of. The last World Cup all the team members thanks to them and the current team also because it's a team effort. At the end of the day, we play a team sport, and everybody needs to enjoy it," Dhoni said after the Ireland thrashing.
He added, "I'm glad all of us have stepped up. It feels good. Everyone is happy we have been able to win nine consecutive games, we just have to take the momentum forward."
