Mumbai, February 18 Playing a T20 World Cup match in front of 42,000 fans in Kolkata felt like being at "cricket in a nightclub," but returning to the sport in Scotland would be like being "in a library," said Scottish seamer Brad Currie as he called for more opportunities at the top level.
Scotland made a dramatic late entry to the T20 World Cup when Bangladesh were eliminated from the competition for refusing to travel to India. Placed in Group C, Scotland put out strong performances against tougher opponents in England and the West Indies.
"(In) the England game, we had around 40 thousand (fans), maybe even 50 (at) Eden Gardens. For me, as a kid growing up, that was a dream come true. Here at the Wankhede (Stadium), again, a dream come true," Currie told the media after Scotland's seven-wicket loss to Nepal here on Tuesday night.
"That's (in Kolkata) the loudest game I've ever played. It was crazy. It was genuinely like playing a cricket game in a nightclub."
"In the England game, a lot of Indian fans — and that's exactly what we want as players — we want that experience, (it) almost normalizes playing in front of 40,000 in what feels like a nightclub."
Reiterating the common demand made by all Associate players who played in Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium, Currie said they need more opportunities at the top level.
"We grow as players for that experience and what we ask for is more, just give us more, we love playing these games and we'd love to sort of entertain, really," he said.
"...it's going to feel like we're playing in a library when we go back to Scotland," he quipped.
Currie said Scotland weren't under-prepared when they got a late call-up to join the T20 World Cup.
"We had two warm-up games (and) we had plenty of net sessions. As far as I'm concerned, we were all preparing for our Namibia series next month and (the) Cricket World (Cup) League 2. I don't think any of us were too undercooked," he said.
Scotland skipper Richie Berrington said his side showed that it needs more game-time with top nations after coming close in a few matches.
"We've shown in three games there, we got ourselves in a really strong position and maybe just that lack of match time showed in key moments," he said.
"Had we taken the game a little bit deeper, we could have been on the right side of a few more results.
"It's fantastic that we've seen another 20-team World Cup. No surprise that the associates have shown once again what they can do on the world stage. We just need more exposure to this, playing the bigger teams. More fixtures against them is only going to make us better," Berrington added.
Nepal ended their 12-year winless run in the competition with the victory and skipper Rohit Paudel was pleased to have given their fans -- nearly 20,000 in three of the four games they played here -- something to smile about.
"After the England game, a lot of people came to watch, but we as a team disappointed them. We wanted to give (them) a win, give a smile on their face because they have travelled a long way to come here and support us and Nepal," Paudel said.
"I'll place it high only because it took 12 years to win a World Cup game. This win was very important because this was the last league stage game for us and we wanted to win," he emphasised.
