Shib Shankar Paul (left) is congratulated by teammates in Abu Dhabi on Monday. (PTI)

Abu Dhabi: India A thrashed Ireland by eight wickets to round off their league engagements with an all-win record in the Eurasia Series limited overs tournament here on Tuesday night.

Delhi opener Shikhar Dhawan struck an unbeaten 91 to guide the Indians past a modest target of 183 with more than 15 overs to spare in the group C second league phase encounter at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

India now await the topper of group D in the final to be played on Friday.

Despite being asked to chase under the lights, for the first time in the tournament, India made light of the task, thanks to Dhawan’s uninhibited strokeplay.

“I played the ball on its merit. It was quite different to bat under the lights, but it is good that we did because it will be helpful in case we need to bat second in the final,” Dhawan, who received $2600 as Man of the Match, said.

The left-hander, who has scored a hundred and two 50s in the previous three innings in the tournament, smashed 13 boundaries in his 96-ball innings.

He put on 55-runs for the opening wicket with Robin Uthappa whose promising innings was cut short at 25 when he clipped Whelan straight to mid-on.

Dhawan then found good support in captain Y. Venugopal Rao who made 33 from 45 balls with five fours and a six while adding 65 runs for the second wicket.

The winning runs came fittingly from Dhawan, a rousing boundary off spinner Britton.

Earlier, pacer Rudra Pratap Singh and Shib Shankar Paul took three wickets each as Ireland struggled to make the most of the advantage of the toss.

Rudra Pratap finished with figures of three for 22 while Paul claimed three for 28.

Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla was the other successful bowler with two wickets, while Reetinder Singh Sodhi and Ravindra Jadeja chipped in with a wicket each.

John Mooney was the top-scorer for Ireland with a 61-ball 41 which included five boundaries. Paul provided the breakthrough by getting rid of Molins with a gem of a delivery which saw his stumps being dislodged.

Brief scores

Ireland 182 (RP Singh 3/22, SS Paul 3/28). India A 186/2 (S. Dhawan 91 ..). India A won by 8 wkts.

(PTI)