Sachin Tendulkar has tweeted his support for the Associate cricketing nations

Legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar has once again backed the cause of Associate nations’ participation in the cricket’s world events. His good friend and West Indian great Brian Lara has backed Sachin’s view and asked other cricketing star players like Shane Warne, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli Ab de Villiers and others to join the debate. A qualifying round for the ongoing Word T20 witnessed some quality cricket played by the likes of Afghanistan and Oman, however, some of the matches were rain affected that hampered the progress of teams like Netherlands and Ireland.

ICC (International Cricket Council) has proposed a 10-team World Cup in 2019, unlike the 2015 edition where 14 teams participated. The 2019 edition will have the top eight teams qualifying directly while two more teams will join them after a qualifying round. The move has met with a lot of criticism from supporters of nations like Ireland, Afghanistan amongst others.

Tendulkar, who was the brand ambassador of ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, has been of the view that playing against top teams regularly would only help the smaller teams. ICC sees the change in number of teams as a way of making the World Cup more competitive and ensuring that each match remains competitive. On the flip side, there has been an argument that it would actually discourage the smaller teams. Tendulkar is also keen on the top teams playing against Associate nations on a more regular basis.

An emotional and distraught Peter Borren, who captained the Dutch, made an impassioned plea to the ICC to give the Associates and Affiliates more opportunities to play, which eventually boils down to spending more money on them. His side Netherlands perhaps had one bad over with the ball and another with the bat in their first match of this World T20, and they are already out of the event after a washout in their second match.

Such a shame we won't see Countries like Afghanistan in the next WC..It's refreshing and great for the game..Please change your minds @ICC

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) March 20, 2016

Calling on @sachin_rt @ShaneWarne @henrygayle @imVkohli @ABdeVilliers17 n others to join n see d importance of this. https://t.co/ARw8EstAuZ

— Brian Lara (@BrianLara) March 20, 2016

Completely agree. Spirit & performance of teams like Afghanistan & Oman echo the need for more teams at WC & beyond! https://t.co/H190gk7YdE

— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) March 21, 2016