It's pretty surreal: Scott Edwards on facing India at the SCG

Netherlands have played India twice in international cricket and never before in T20Is ahead of Thursday's fixture at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground. After their first meeting at the 2003 ODI World Cup, they had an eight-year wait before facing them again in Delhi at the 2011 ODI World Cup. By contrast they've had more exposure to the big teams recently. For example, this summer they've already faced West Indies, England, New Zealand and Pakistan thanks in large part to the ODI World Cup Super League.

However with the ICC doing away with that Super League after this cycle, chances to play teams such as India or any of the other traditional heavyweights of the game could once again be reverted to the odd games in such World Cups. The unbridled outpouring of joy when Netherlands made it to the Super 12 was expertly captured in a viral celebration media. On Wednesday, captain Scott Edwards put into context just what the game at the SCG means for his side.

"It's huge. You always dream of playing World Cups, and SCG is one of the most famous grounds in the world. And then add in that you're playing against arguably one of the best teams in the world, yes, it's pretty surreal. The boys are looking forward to it," he said."

Outside of the experience gleaned playing the top teams, Edwards underscored the importance of the Super League in allowing a young talent pool to be developed in the Netherlands, which would otherwise lose its most experienced players to County cricket.

"That's probably where the Super League was so good. We didn't have a lot of our county guys around that period, which made it hard to win games. But it gave a lot of our younger guys an opportunity, which I think a lot of them showed they were capable of performing and coming up against these bigger, better players," he said.

"Yes, obviously disappointing that the ODI Super League is not going ahead. It was a great experience for all of our players. Obviously going forward there's obviously more teams going to the World Cups in the future, which is great. But you've got to qualify for those events, which is always tough. It's a bit disappointing, but we're here now and we get to play another four, five, however many games, in the World Cup, which we're looking forward to."