Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne to lead cricket's Olympic charge

Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar have been the bowling and batting legends of modern-day cricket

Former Australia spinner Shane Warne and India batting great Sachin Tendulkar have joined the bandwagon who want to re-introduce cricket in the Olympic games.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is scheduled to meet the International Olympic Committee (IOC) next month to discuss a possible bid, with the Twenty20 format of the game most likely to be discussed.

Cricket had last featured in the Olympics in 1900, when Great Britain took on France in Paris. The ICC has since then, resisted attempts to include it in the Games fearing that this might make existing competitions such as the 50-over World Cup and World Twenty20 inconsequential.

"I'd love to see it as an Olympic sport and, who knows, down the track it might be," the BBC quoted Warne as saying.

"I think it's a great idea and I reckon T20 is the best format for it," former India batsman and Test cricket's all-time leading run-scorer Tendulkar said. “It's the most acceptable format for people who don't have any knowledge about cricket or the ones who need an introduction to cricket. The game is over in three hours and it's like any sport - you go to a stadium and after three hours you get back to your work," the legendary batsman explained.

As part of an attempt to raise cricket's profile around the globe, the star duo will be responsible for captaining rival teams in a series of three Twenty20 All-Star matches in the United States in November. Their backing for an Olympic bid will increase the pressure on the ICC to reverse its resistance to the idea.

The Marylebone Cricket Club is in favour of cricket being part of the Olympics

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in July urged the sport's ruling body to try to get the game's Twenty20 international format into the Olympics.The MCC, founded in 1787 and the owner of the Lord's ground where it is based, was formerly the governing body of world cricket and is the guardian of the laws of the game.

Warne said he was in favour of the Twenty20 format for the Olympics, but is open to the idea of indoor cricket being chosen as well. "If it advertises the game of cricket and the skill and athleticism that are involved in a game of cricket then great," he said.

"I haven't seen a game of indoor cricket for a long time so I don't know how good indoor cricket is at the moment. But the last time I saw it, it was fantastic - so hopefully they have grown a different skill for it. Ideally, I'd stick to Twenty20 because it's over in three hours, it's easy to organise and you play two or three games a day. I'd include the associate nations because it's helping spread the word of cricket," the leg-spinner concluded.