NEW DELHI: Australia head coach Andrew McDonald has called on the International Cricket Council (ICC) to increase the size of the World Cup squad from 15 to 17 players for the 2027 ODI World Cup. His comments came after the ICC introduced a new format that will see the finalists play up to 15 matches, making the tournament longer and more physically demanding.McDonald believes bigger squads will help teams deal with injuries and changing playing conditions, especially after Australia and New Zealand struggled with injured players during the 2023 World Cup.“One of the big things from my perspective is if this is your top event, what do your squad sizes look like? We had a problem with what it looked like to have a 15-player squad for the last World Cup,” said McDonald.He pointed out that players like Travis Head and Kane Williamson have been sidelined due to injury, leaving teams with limited selection options.“My thrust into it, any time you play a lot of games in the same period of time, you don’t want it to be attritional,” he added. “You want to use the best players. So, there has to be a conversation around – yes, that’s good, you got to that, okay, what about squad sizes?”McDonald also said that bigger squads will help teams manage injuries during a packed international schedule and ensure the biggest stars remain available throughout the tournament.“So let’s bring the best players there. Give us bigger squads to be able to navigate the early stage, and then hopefully the top event will have the best players playing, instead of losing early due to injury and the attritional nature of a World Cup,” he added.He also questioned the new format, saying Associate nations may have fewer opportunities despite their recent growth in white-ball cricket.“It’s an interesting structure of a tournament. I think the Associate countries are maybe penalized a little bit by that,” he added.