A lot has been said about the eight so-called minnows participating in the World Cup. Pundits and former players have had their say, and Bishen Bedi (the guy who once declared his side’s innings closed because he was scared that he might get injured) has said that it lowers standards.

Well, if the minnows weren’t to play the big boys of international cricket, how would they ever learn? I don’t think any cricket board would organise official or unofficial tours with full-strength national teams against teams like Bermuda or Canada, but it’s up to the ICC to ensure that they play some international cricket, so why not the World Cup?

It helpsthe bigger teams to acclimatise, and gives the minnows some exposure to the rigours of international cricket. The recent defeat of the Kiwis at the hands of Bangladesh proves that there are some very capable teams who can beat the big boys on their day.

Bedi also says that "India is not allowed to play in the football World Cup, so why allow these minnows to play in the cricket World Cup?" Well, the informed cricketer probably missed out on one small fact - that football is played in nearly 150 countries. They cannot have a World Cup that has all of them playing, and hence, have a qualifying system whereby 32 teams qualify and participate. But there are probably just about 25 countries playing cricket, and if cricket is to become a mass sport, the smaller teams should play the big guys.

I am not for one moment suggesting that all that the ICC is doing is right. Getting the smaller teams to play only the World Cup and then not helping them any further is criminal. The World Cup is just the beginning. After the tournament, the ICC should ensure that the small teams get at least two home and away tours against a major Test-playing nation. Also, there should be regular A-team tours by the Test-playing nations to these smaller countries.

Where would Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangledesh be today unless they had played against the big boys? And where would Muttiah Muralitharan have honed his deadly skills?

A start needs to be made somewhere. If that means the World Cup, so be it. I wonder where these cricket pundits go when it comes to developing sport in these smaller countries? Why don’t they go ahead and help in developing the sport in these nations?

They talk big of giving back to the game what the game has given them, but all they mean is that they’ll make asinine comments on the game and want to get paid big bucks for doing it. Sandeep Patil showed the way when he took up the job of coaching Kenya. As far as I remember, those minnows made it to the semi-finals of the previous World Cup. But does Mr. Bedi remember?

It’s so easy to sit on the fence and criticise, but how many former cricketers would want to get their hands dirty and develop a team? They prefer to criticise the ICC and everything else, but when it comes to real work they back out. And most of the comments that these former cricketers make only proves that there is a big difference between playing international cricket and iactually understanding it.

Should the smaller countries play in the World Cup? Let us have your views at Sportingo.