Contrary to ICC chief executive David Richardson’s view to truncate the World Cup to just 10 teams, former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar believes that governing body should instead look to enhance the skills of the so-called minnows.
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"When you want the game to globalise, we need to encourage more and more teams to participate, obviously not at the cost of dropping the standard of play, but we need to look at how we can get these guys to raise their standard of playing and I think the standard of playing is only going to rise when they start playing against the top sides," said Tendulkar, in the ICC's first ever Google Hangout.
"For that sake I feel even if the top sides send their A-teams, India A could tour Zimbabwe, Bangladesh or Ireland, Scotland and all these teams they need encouragement. For UAE, say, Australia-A or New Zealand-A team can go and play with UAE, get them that encouragement," he suggested.
Tendulkar, the global ambassador for the ongoing World Cup, said the associate nations should get more exposure against top-flight teams to be well-prepared for big multi-national events.
"I think it's important that the top teams, the stronger ones play against all these teams as much as possible and not just during the World Cups.
"To play against them every four years I think we need to look into it and look to encourage them more by making them play international games against top sides," he said.
"You see it has been a history from many World Cups; these sides have always come up with surprises. So West Indies got beaten earlier you know. I feel there is potential and these guys just need that potential to express their talent. This tournament is really gonna be exciting as the time goes by, you will see some exciting matches played."
