World No. 5 India will take on World No. 4 the Netherlands in the quarter-finals at the Kalinga Stadium today with one eye on history. A win for Manpreet Singh & Co will ensure their best World Cup finish in 43 years since Ajit Pal Singh's men won gold at the 1975 edition in Malaysia. A Top Four spot here will better India's best home finish - fifth place at the 1982 edition in Mumbai.

But the Netherlands is a huge mountain that India coach Harendra Singh knows too well. When informed that India have never beaten the Netherlands at a World Cup in six previous meetings at the quadrennial event [the Netherlands has won five and one ended in a draw], he shot back: "History is only good to read, not to understand. I don't believe in reading too much into history."