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Other than an occasional test, India’s World Cup run
has been nothing short of extraordinary. They now have the opportunity to
provide their fans with another round of entertainment on the eve of the
auspicious Indian holiday of Diwali. While anything can happen in sports, it is
quite improbable that the hosts will lose.
This is due to India’s utter dominance throughout
their 8-0 World Cup run. Even though they have performed better than
anticipated, they are playing the least favourite team in the
tournament—Netherlands—in their final league game. India’s next major match is
a semi-final against New Zealand on Wednesday. Sunday gives them an opportunity
to rest important players if necessary.
India head coach Rahul Dravid stated in a press
conference that his team is not considering “tactical” changes, but
they might be tempted to give players like R Ashwin, who hasn’t played since
the opening match against Australia last month, or Prasidh Krishna, who is
playing in his first World Cup, some playing time.
Virat Kohli, on the other hand, is unlikely to be
well-rested given he is attempting to reach 50 ODI tonnes, a feat that has
never been accomplished by a man. When Kohli reaches 100 on Sunday, he and
India will both be hoping that the talk of records being broken will die down
and that, by the time the Indian side reaches the semi-final, their collective
attention will be on that elusive knockout win rather than on milestones that
have occasionally overshadowed the merciless nature of winning this tournament.
Netherlands will need to make a statement of their
own. Despite the highs of two fantastic victories, they have spent more time in
India than any other visiting team this World Cup, and they wouldn’t want to
finish last in the points standings. They were keen to play the warm-up match
against India, which ended in a washout, but now they have another opportunity
to perform well in what is expected to be their team’s most watched
international cricket match. But as eight other teams have already discovered, it
will be unbelievably tough.