At 41, Ryan ten Doeschate dreams of carrying Holland to Super 12 stage of World T20

NEW DELHI: All-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate has been doing great service to the Netherlands over the years and the 41-year-old would now look to go out on a high as he looks to take the Dutch at least to the Super 12 stages in the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

When asked what holds the key to having a long career in sports, Ryan said: "I think the key is to enjoy it and have the perspective of what it is. It is the ability to wake up every day and give your best and see how it works out for you. It is also about going back to the drawing board and doing it again. I think if you enjoy that process, if you enjoy working with people and working towards a big goal, then I do not think you will ever struggle to be motivated."

"This might seem a little bit profound. The toughest opponent any cricketer comes up against is yourself. You obviously come up against great players, really quick bowlers, or some mysterious spinners. One of the most difficult challenges in cricket and over a long career is to deal with yourself and meeting your own expectations. Understanding yourself and working with yourself hold the key."

The Netherlands is placed in Group A of the Qualifying Stages for the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup alongside Sri Lanka, Namibia, and Ireland. The top two sides from the group will qualify for the Super 12 Stages.

"I am always looking to share what I have learnt from the game. There is a lot of experience in the Netherlands side, guys like Colin Ackermann and Roelof van der Merwe have played a lot of cricket themselves. We are sharing information all the time and I think that is the job of an experienced player in any team, just to control the emotions and sort of giving guys an understanding or perspective of what you are playing for and how to go about it," said the 41-year-old.

"It is really important mainly from a qualification point of view (match against Sri Lanka). But I think the big matchups are going to be Ireland-Netherlands, Ireland-Namibia, and Namibia-Netherlands. Sri Lanka is likely to get through the group, with no disrespect to Sri Lanka at all, but in the last 10-18 months, they have not been the standout white-ball team. They have quality, but we will approach the game like any other," he added.

Having played across the globe, the Dutch cricketer spoke about his admiration for both Ravindra Jadeja and Shakib Al Hasan, calling them the two best all-rounders in modern-day cricket at present.

"I think Shakib would be hard to look past. Ravindra Jadeja is probably up there. I think that a classic all-rounder role of a seam-bowler batter is not been as effective as a spin-bowling batter or a wicketkeeper-batter. But yeah, if I had to choose two, I would go with these two," ten Doeschate told ANI in an interaction organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The Pieter Seelaar-led side will start its campaign in the showpiece event against Ireland on October 18 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. The next two games against Namibia and Sri Lanka will be played on October 20 and 22.