12:50 Local Time, 07:20 GMT, 12:50 IST: It's the final league match of this World Cup. From this tournament's point of view, this is a dead rubber. But, for the men in orange, the 2025 Champions Trophy qualification is still at stake. Currently placed at the bottom of the table, a win today will take them to the eighth spot. But they'll be facing arguably their biggest challenge of this tournament. Not only do they have to lock horns against the only unbeaten side of the competition, but they'll also be playing in front of a sell-out crowd who'll be vociferously supporting the home side. Hello and a warm welcome to Game 45.

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Preview by Kaushik Rangarajan

Rohit Sharma charged out of his crease, making room to free his arms. The bowler spotted the danger and adjusted, bowling back of a length and at the body. The Indian captain still hit it for a six so big that it thundered onto the galvanised asbestos sheet on the upper roof of the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, startling a kite perched on it and peering away from the action.

It will have been quite the exercise in restraint to avert a gaze at India in this World Cup when they've operated like a snazzy, hyper-engineered German car, with all its parts whirring in total sync. But even a hi-spec machine requires a tune-up and the occasional need to run diagnostics on its different systems. And so Rohit batted 32 minutes, two nights out from the game, constantly trying to put bowlers off their lengths. Virat Kohli followed him for an equally purposeful session.

The bowlers - the whole lot of them - put the line-up through a serious inquisition, the kind they've been doing to opposition batters. It was all emblematic of the no-frills, no milling about approach to their final stretch of the campaign with the big moment(s) under the brightest lights waiting on the other side of the Diwali.

It was here in Bengaluru that this juggernaut began to roll two months ago. Since that camp at Alur, India have won the Asia Cup title, climbed to the top of the ICC rankings and on Sunday will have an opportunity to complete an invincible league campaign at a World Cup. While the jury may still be out on this team's cred, at least for another week, it is hard to ignore their dominance, the run they've been on and the sheer range of their performances.

A pre-tournament camp at Alur is perhaps the only thing Netherlands have in common with India. Since those losses to Karnataka in the practice games, the Dutch have put together a laudable World Cup campaign with notable wins over South Africa and Bangladesh.

A chance to play India for an associate nation doesn't come around too often. There was a 11-year gap to their previous meeting at the SCG, but they're now playing Rohit Sharma's team again in 12 months' time. In a weird way, that is a sign of progress. There's a Champions Trophy berth to fight for and the Dutch will be out to prove that they aren't just a box for India to tick off. Tomorrow marks an opportunity for some loud statement-making in one of the loudest settings in international cricket.

When: India vs Netherlands, November 12, 14:00 IST

Where: M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

What to expect: A pleasant Bengaluru day with no prospect of rain. The mercury has dipped ever so slightly in the city with winter just around the corner. The Chinnaswamy Stadium has played true to its 'bat second' character with chasing teams having won three of the four games here. The pitch used for this game is to the left of the one that New Zealand played and won on Thursday and sported a tinge of grass that is but a binding element.

Team Watch:

India

India have had a six-day break since their last game against South Africa and head coach Rahul Dravid hinted that was enough of a rest for a full strength team to play.

Tactics & Strategy:

Max O'Dowd is a quality player going through a wretched run of form in this World Cup. He has just 108 runs from 8 innings with a best of 42. He will be up against the most incisive new-ball attack in the competition that will look to set the tone once more.

Probable XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

Netherlands

Netherlands are likely to keep the same XI that played in the last game unless they decide to swap out one under-performing opener (O'Dowd) for another (Vikramjit Singh)

Tactics & Strategy:

Scott Edwards is a good player of spin bowling, averaging 62.77 over 820 balls in ODI cricket. Netherlands will want their captain to take charge against Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav on a ground with the highest economy rate for spin among the 10 venues in this competition.

Probable XI: Wesley Barresi, Max O'Dowd, Colin Ackermann, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (c&wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merve, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren

Did you know?

- Virat Kohli averages only 25.33 from six ODIs played in Bengaluru

- Bas de Leede has 18 wickets in the death overs (41-50) since the start of 2022

- Bengaluru has the best runs-per-wicket ratio - 36.45 - at this World Cup, marginally ahead of Pune (35.82) and Mumbai (35.73).

What they said:

"You're at a pointy end of a tournament now. So now at this stage it's about just focusing on getting the guys who you think are going to be playing in the 11 in the best possible space mentally and physically to be able to play that semifinal and hopefully the final if we earn it. So that will be the single point of thinking. There are times for larger-picture thinking and there are times for narrow-focus thinking and in my opinion, now's the time for sheer narrow-focus thinking if everyone is fit." - Rahul Dravid hints that there won't be any tinkering with personnel with just a week to go in the World Cup.

^ subject to results of Australia-Bangladesh & England-Pakistan

Squads:

India Squad: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Shardul Thakur

Netherlands Squad: Wesley Barresi, Max ODowd, Colin Ackermann, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards(w/c), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren, Saqib Zulfiqar, Vikramjit Singh, Shariz Ahmad, Noah Croes