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.