Big picture: Will India give the fringe players game time?
They've been occasionally tested, but otherwise, India's World Cup run has been nothing short of magical. Now on the day of the auspicious Indian festival of Diwali, they have a chance to gift their fans another dose of entertainment, and even though we know that anything can happen in sport, a defeat for the hosts is extremely unlikely.
That's because India have been absolutely dominant during their 8-0 run at this World Cup. Coming into their final league game, they face the least-fancied team of the tournament, Netherlands, even if they have performed better than expected. With a semi-final against New Zealand on Wednesday their next big game, Sunday also offers India a chance to rest key personnel should there be a need for it.
According to India head coach Rahul Dravid's press conference, India are not looking at "tactical" changes, but they may yet be tempted to give some game time to the likes of Prasidh Krishna, who is playing his first World Cup, or R Ashwin, who hasn't played since the first game against Australia last month.
Someone who is unlikely to be rested, though, is Virat Kohli, who is chasing a century that will put him where no man has ever gone before - 50 ODI tons. Both Kohli, and India, will hope that a hundred on Sunday brings a close to all the chatter about records being broken, and by the time the semi-final comes along, the collective focus of the Indian side is on that elusive knockout win and not on milestones that, on some occasions, have taken importance over the ruthlessness of victory in this tournament.
Netherlands will have their own statement to make. They've been in India longer than any other visiting side this World Cup, and despite the highs of two terrific wins, they wouldn't want to finish rock-bottom on the points table. They wanted to desperately play the warm-up game against India that got washed out, but here is another chance to shine in what will most likely be their team's most-watched game of international cricket. It will be excruciatingly difficult though, as eight other teams have already learnt.
Form guide
India: WWWWW (last five completed ODIs, most recent first)
Netherlands: LLWLL
In the spotlight: Shubman Gill and Bas de Leede
Before the World Cup, Shubman Gill was the unanimous choice among fans and experts as the one player most likely to succeed at the World Cup. But it hasn't been so. A case of dengue made him lose muscle mass and weight, he wasn't at full fitness at the start of the tournament, and a run of only two half-centuries in six innings has meant his overall performance has been below the lofty stands he has himself set. With Rohit Sharma and Kohli churning out the runs, Gill's scores have gone under the radar, but India would want a big score from the opener ahead of the big semi-final in Mumbai.
He has the most wickets for Netherlands at this World Cup (14) but he also has the worst economy (7.10) among his team's quicks. For Bas de Leede, this competition promised a lot of highs but all that followed after his all-round effort against Pakistan has been disappointment. He's leaked runs, he's failed to score crucial runs from the lower-middle order, and the bottom line is that he has not lived up to his potential. Here's one last chance for him to make a mark, and you never know... a strong performance against hosts India could be the perfect finish with an IPL auction also looming next month.
Team news: Bumrah to rest?
Dravid said the team will not "experiment" tactically, but the odd change cannot be ruled out.
India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, 4 Shreyas Iyer, 5 KL Rahul, 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Kuldeep Yadav / R Ashwin, 9 Jasprit Bumrah / Prasidh Krishna, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Mohammed Siraj
Netherlands should field the same side from the England defeat.
Netherlands (probable): 1 Max O'Dowd / Vikramjit Singh, 2 Wesley Barresi, 3 Colin Ackermann, 4 Sybrand Engelbrecht, 5 Scott Edwards (capt), 6 Bas de Leede, 7 Teja Nidamanuru, 8 Logan van Beek, 9 Roelof van der Merwe, 10 Aryan Dutt, 11 Paul van Meekeren
Pitch and conditions: Big score galore
Runs, runs and more runs shall be the theme at the last World Cup game scheduled for the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. Australia scored 367 against Pakistan here while New Zealand thumped 401. If India bat first, their aim will be for a score in that region.
Stats and trivia: India chasing history
India and Netherlands have played each other twice in World Cups previously (2003 and 2011). In 2003, Bas' father Tim de Leede was the Player of the Match.
Roelof van der Merwe is the only Netherlands bowler who has previously bowled to any of the Indian batters (Kohli and Rohit) in ODI cricket.
India's 8-0 streak at this World Cup is the third-best streak in this tournament, behind only the 11 consecutive wins achieved by Australia in 2003 and 2007.
Fifteen years ago, Sybrand Engelbrecht played for South Africa against Kohli and Jadeja in an Under-19 World Cup final in Kuala Lumpur.
No Dutch batter has reached a century at this World Cup.
Quotes
"We had a balance. We've structured the whole thing around certain things. But when that hasn't happened, we've had the ability, the skill, and the mental fortitude to be able to bounce back, and to be able to still compete and do really well. So yeah, I think credit to the guys, credit to, like I said, I think even the NCA for all the work that they do."
Head coach Rahul Dravid on how India adapted following Hardik Pandya's injury mid-tournament
