Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], February 19 (ANI): Netherlands all-rounder Bas de Leede called playing in the T20 World Cup 2026 a 'once-in-a-lifetime opportunity' after the team's last match in the tournament, where they faced a 17-run defeat to co-hosts India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, on Wednesday. He also called out for opportunities for the Associate teams.

Netherlands' T20 WC 2026 journey saw them win one out of their four group-stage matches. With India and Pakistan qualifying for the Super 8s from Group A, the Netherlands, Namibia, and the USA bowed out of the tournament.

Notably, although the Netherlands suffered a heavy loss to the USA, they were still able to challenge stronger sides like India and Pakistan at various stages of their group-stage matches.

Speaking at the post-match press conference after the match against India, Bas de Leede said the experience of playing in the 2026 World Cup was 'amazing' and a rare opportunity to play in front of such a large crowd. He also noted that Associate teams have demonstrated their growing standard and stressed the need for more opportunities against top sides to continue improving.

'Yeah, it was amazing. I think all of the guys enjoyed it. It's probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play for so many people. I hope everyone soaked it all in. Moving forward, I think the associates have shown what level associate cricket is at the moment. We can only ask for more and more opportunities against the best because that's ultimately the way that we're going to improve as a collective. But for us at the moment we've got nothing planned up until the start of June, when we have a next series for World Cup qualification. So yeah, we'll have a couple of weeks off, and then training starts again,' he said as quoted by the ICC website.

Bas de Leede acknowledged that arranging full series against top nations can be difficult, but suggested alternatives such as touring teams playing warm-up matches in countries like Scotland or the Netherlands while visiting England. He believes such arrangements would give associate teams valuable exposure to top-level competition while also benefiting the touring sides.

'I think it's hard to schedule full series in against top nations but I think one way that that could potentially be an option is when traveling teams come to England for example, that there's an option of playing a warm-up in Scotland or a warm-up in the Netherlands. I think there's ways around that where we still can get exposure of playing against the best teams and they get something out of it as well,' de Leede said.

Coming to the match, India won the toss and elected to bat first. They lost Abhishek Sharma (0) and Ishan Kishan (18) early, while Tilak Varma (31 in 27 balls, with three fours and a six) and Suryakumar (34 in 28 balls, with two fours and a six) struggled to play freely. It was Shivam Dube's 66 (with four boundaries and six sixes) and Hardik Pandya's (30 in 21 balls, with three sixes) that took India to 193/5 in 20 overs.

After the Netherlands sank to 51/2, Bas de Leede (33 in 23 balls, with three fours and a six) and Colin Ackermann (23 in 15 balls, with a four and two sixes) had a 43-run stand, but India got back in the game soon. Towards the end, Zach Lion-Cachet (26 in 16 balls, with a four and six) and Noah Croes (25* in 12 balls, with five fours) stitched a 47-run stand, taking Netherlands to 176/7, a valiant finish against the defending champions. (ANI)