Tendulkar suggests 25-team World Cup
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SYDNEY: Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar on Wednesday blasted proposals to slash the 2019 World Cup to just 10 nations, describing it as ‘a backward step’ and suggesting the tournament be expanded to 25 teams.
Tendulkar, an ambassador for the World Cup on behalf of the International Cricket Council said the ICC should be expanding the frontiers of the game with Test teams encouraged to pit their ‘A’ sides against Associate nations such as Afghanistan and Ireland.
“I found out the next World Cup would only be ten teams which is disappointing because as a cricketer I want the game to be globalised as much as possible and, according to me, this is a backwards step,” Tendulkar told a private dinner in Sydney.
“We’ve got to find ways of encouraging the lesser teams."
He added: “Why not get Australia ‘A’, England ‘A’, New Zealand ‘A’, South Africa ‘A’, New Zealand ‘A’, India ‘A’, everyone, to go and visit these countries and play them on a regular basis.
“And see, not just 14 teams, but how can we get to 25 teams participating in the next World Cup?
“It is not just about the top six or seven sides.
“If we are to globalise this game we have to get more and more people excited about cricket and the fan following only follows the result.”
Tendulkar argued that it was impossible for second-tier Associate nations to be consistently competitive throughout a World Cup under the current system because they are not exposed to top-level experience in the four years between tournaments.
From the 2011 World Cup to the current event, Ireland played only 11 ODIs against Full Member nations.
“Right now, they get up after four years on the cricket world’s biggest platform and they’re expected to play and compete with the likes of Australia, South Africa, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka, so many top sides. It’s unfair to them,” said Tendulkar.
Published in Dawn March 5th , 2015
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Comments (41) Closed
Mar 05, 2015 09:21am
He is right, there should be many more team to encourage the spread of this sport – Its about time that even the West Indian team should broken down to Jamaican, Trinidadian and Guyanese teams. We should also have teams from Hong Kong, Morocco, Nepal and Bhutan.
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Mar 05, 2015 09:43am
As I cricket lover all I can say is, I am loosing interest to see the matches when a small team involved.
I can understand Tendulkar pain (Few months ago when a journalist asked Sharapova about Tendulkar, she couldn't recognize him). So is the reason he may want to globalize the game in a big way.
But with more teams, World Cup loose it's glory!
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Mar 05, 2015 10:10am
Agree with what GOD said :)
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Mar 05, 2015 10:14am
Correct...cricket need global presence just like football or tennis...
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Mar 05, 2015 10:16am
Really stupid idea. As if 400 is not enough. It will reach 500+.
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Mar 05, 2015 10:17am
Lets face it..he was a great player..but has never been good in strategizing, providing useful ideas..partly the reason he was a poor captain..
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Mar 05, 2015 10:18am
He makes so much sense ... if you want to globalise the game, you got to take it to other nations. I heard China Cricket Association is making inroads. If ICC manages to get China into the world cup, cricket can become at par with soccer and tennis, possibly getting to Olympics status. ICC think outside the box.
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Mar 05, 2015 10:22am
Totally agree with Tendulkar. In fact World Cup should take place every year by turns - Test, ODI and T-20 This way each will be played every 3 years.
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Mar 05, 2015 10:25am
I agree...v must hv world cup like football.
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Mar 05, 2015 10:33am
Couldn't agree more. But he may annoy Mr. Sri..
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Mar 05, 2015 10:52am
Sachin's comment is highly relevant and praiseworthy, as the proposed reduction
to only 10 A grade teams will harm spread and competitive spirit of B .grade teams.
The globalisation of game depends on inviting new countries and giving more
chances to play with A grade teams.
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Mar 05, 2015 11:07am
@Jehanzeb
You are right, China had Australian coaches since 2005 (maybe earlier too, I'm not sure) ... They have always used sports to get a higher international profile. Now they want to master cricket to get cozy with the Commonwealth nations...
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Mar 05, 2015 11:09am
Fully agree. The gentle men game should be popularised like football but the sanctity of this game lies with spinners, wristy players, close fielding postions, fast running between wickets etc to be preserved in that way only. There lies a danger with the inclusion of new countries the technical side of cricket will be affected. We should also remember that like hockey which was considered an art game of 'dribble and dodge' now have been formatted to suit conditions of west to mere power and stamina game much to the loss of Pakistan and India like countries, where it is still played on normal grounds without artificial turfs.
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Mar 05, 2015 11:12am
yes totally agreed cricket should be globalised.
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Mar 05, 2015 11:34am
Not sure what made him to give such proposal. Hardly any cricket fan watch game of big teams against minnows.. WC would be more boring...
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Mar 05, 2015 11:50am
@Ravi I think Sachin is right we can see small teams playing world class teams in biggest tournament of the globe 'FIFA WC' and the international soccer has increased the number of teams from 24 to 32. Does it make sense to decrease the numbers of team in ICC WC when we want to globlise the game???
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Mar 05, 2015 11:59am
@Ravi Don't give non-sense logic that Sharapova didn't recognize Sachin. So, what? That is not the intention of Sachin. He is known to billion+ people anyway.
The intention behind globalization is great. If Argentina and Korea can become incredibly good Hockey teams, why can't Netherlands and Nepal become good Cricketing nations?
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Mar 05, 2015 11:59am
Excellent idea ...25 team world cup will be very good for cricket
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Mar 05, 2015 12:09pm
@Indian Thought I am agree with Sachin's view in this respect. But asking Sachin a God is very shamefull.
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Mar 05, 2015 12:12pm
is he in his senses........it is not footabll which finishes in 90 minutes.....25 teams per tournament will take 6 months to finish.......there will be a lost of interest in the game..........may be he wants other indian batsmen to score centuries against minnows as he did all his life
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Mar 05, 2015 12:32pm
A careful analysis is required based on current associate teams performance during this world cup matches, not to stretch the tournament duration too long, availability of quality grounds, sponsor's demand, allowing the associates (b/w 2 to 6) but not at the cost of compromising the quality of tournament etc.
A sound and objective analysis is required based on above
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Mar 05, 2015 01:00pm
first of all this game of Cricket cannot be globalized due to its huge infrastructure required and a governing board to actively keep this game alive in the country... at present it would be enough to have healthy and corruption free cricket in countries where its existing as of now.
World Cup should be played between Test nations only else it may sound good for self-possessed people ( like Tendulkar ) for some name-sake records... but not for die-hard cricket fans who really want to see good, competitive cricket.
by the way cricket is already being played in Europe, America, Aus-NZ, Africa and Asia... 5 continents !!! Tendulkar do you wanna play in Antarctic as well ? then you should roughed up this brilliant idea with Jagmohan during your hay days not now. you played for your records never for India.
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Mar 05, 2015 01:19pm
I dont mind 10 teams, provided that every team; be it Aus, Ind, Pak, SA, Eng etc., are made to qualify for the World Cup Finals (as in Football) rather than being assured automatic qualification. This will not only ensure that the top teams have to earn their place (than having it on a 'plate'), it will also make the associates and other lower ranking teams (Administration & Players) do what it takes to qualify for the WC Finals .... a fair and square deal!!!!!!!1
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Mar 05, 2015 01:25pm
Agree with his idea of 'A' team...I feel world cup is world cup, and it creates excitement in a country when their players participate... unless associate team doesn't play with top team and its not widely covered, cricket wont flourish...
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Mar 05, 2015 01:40pm
World Cup is won by Team Spirit that Pakistanis lacks as there are 11 captains rather than 11 players in Pakistan team. Look at Sachin, who specially went to Australia to cheer for India against South africa and boosted their confidence level.
Imagine an Indian team with without Sachin, Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Zahir Khan.
Indian Tigers will do it again! Hope the same for Indian Hockey Team in future.
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Mar 05, 2015 02:21pm
Big NO. If ICC wants to expand cricket as a global support, test and ODI cricket aren't the formats. Spread T20 which is easy to play for new teams and when they are good enough in that format, bring them to the ODI fold. A 25 team WC will be the most boring competition overtaking cricket WC 2007.
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Mar 05, 2015 02:25pm
Yes Cricket World Cup should be expanded to 20 to 25 teams. It will promote and improve standard of cricket through out the world.
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Mar 05, 2015 02:29pm
I fully support Tendulkar's suggestion.
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Mar 05, 2015 03:10pm
@Taimur m - Mr. Sri has been thrown out by the Supreme Court of India.
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Mar 05, 2015 03:21pm
He is surely gone out of mind! He was a poor captain now he is turning out to make stupid statements. Does he understand how 25 teams could be managed? He is looking turning WC in another IPL. Surely this guy should be kept out of cricket administration, he case he envisages interest in future.
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Mar 05, 2015 03:32pm
I agree with tendulkar but let us promote t20 format. Who in the world want to spend eight hours in front of tv? IMO fifty over matches should go away. Let many countries play in t20
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Mar 05, 2015 03:34pm
@abid , But do not forget that if Pakistan is going to the next round in this world cup, it is because of minnows.
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Mar 05, 2015 03:47pm
as far as i know india has only one game active... cricket. This to heavily been polluted by politician and rich peoples. We need to make it global for that we have to do lots of improvements and tactics .
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Mar 05, 2015 03:47pm
Agreed. ICC needs a complete overhaul. More teams is certainly the way to go. However, there is also a need to shorten the tournament. Must play 3 or 4 matches every day till the knock out phase. This tournament is played in two countries with about 10 centres hosting games, what is the logic behind one game a day? Bulk of the revenue comes from sponsorship, so ICC should be able to organise multiple games every day. If the world cup goes beyond 4 weeks then it is too long.
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Mar 05, 2015 04:03pm
Has to be a multiple of 8
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Mar 05, 2015 11:37pm
No doubt Sachin is one of the great cricketer. But his idea is wrong in playing world cup with 25 teams.
He may be known for billion people but outside cricket playing countries, no one knows Tendulkar.
I am sure he hurt by this and want to popularize the sport for that reason.
I am sure this will do bad for cricket.
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Mar 06, 2015 01:37am
Sorry Sachin; can't agree with you on this one.
In my humble opinion participation in World Cup should be earned not granted. Similar to the soccer world cup; only teams who qualify get to play in the world cup.
What is the point of having 25 teams when the 80% of the world cup games are one sided. You may get more popular in Kenya but lose fans in other cricket loving countries.
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Mar 06, 2015 01:44am
@devil In Soccer world cup teams have to qualify for their participation in the tournament. Not all soccer playing teams qualify to play in the world cup.
Teams play in the qualifying phase for 3 years; based on that they get to play World Cup "Finals" in every fourth year.
This structure is missing in Cricket. Cricket has ad-hoc tournaments/series, teams visiting other countries inconsistently; just based upon expected viewership.
Adding number of teams to World Cup won't do a thing for Cricket; will make the tournament even more boring.
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Mar 06, 2015 06:35am
@Rajesh Even in FIFA world cup, a match between Netherlands vs Iran, or a match between Germany vs Saudi will be utterly one-sided and predictable, but games go on... That is how you share, teach and learns skills of the game... by playing with new teams! How Sri Lanka developed in Cricket? They were nowhere in the first Prudential World Cup... now, they are one of the top teams!
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Mar 06, 2015 06:44am
@RAVI Sachin is genuinely trying to popularize the game... He is done with active Cricket, and I don't think -- he is promoting the game to promote himself. Typical cynical thinking by anti-Sachin forces!
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Mar 07, 2015 01:05am
FIFA promotes the Beautiful Game worldwide. ICC needs to promote the Gentleman's Game likewise.
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