Cricket due to apply for Olympic inclusion

What's the story?

Talk about the most popular sports that have not been included in the Olympic Games and cricket is one of the first sports that come to mind.

However, with the success of the recently concluded Women’s Cricket World Cup which has surely elevated the popularity of the Women’s sport, there is still a possibility that cricket might be introduced to the Olympics in the near future.

A lot, however, would depend on India, and it has to follow the ICC and other countries in coming on board with the concept.

Clare Connor, the head of England Women’s Cricket, said, “Inclusion in the Olympics would be phenomenal for the globalisation of the game – both in terms of participation and fan engagement.”

Tony Irish, the executive chairman of the Federation of the International Cricketers’ Association, echoed her sentiments, and said that including cricket in the world’s biggest sporting event would be essential in expanding the sport in other countries.

Lars Rensmann, the co-author of Gaming the World: How Sports are Reshaping Global Politics and Culture, has also shared the belief of cricket being inducted into the Olympics, stating that it will definitely help in the globalization of the sport.

An ECB spokesperson remarked, “We continue to be open-minded about cricket becoming an Olympic sport and welcome further discussions on this issue between the IOC and the ICC.” “A final decision on this is some way off and will not be guaranteed or simple to deliver. But we do have a duty to explore what is good for cricket.”

In case you did not know

Cricket has been played once at the Commonwealth Games in 1998, with South Africa crowned the winners.

It has also been included in the Asian Games since the 2010 games at Guangzhou with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka winning the Men’s tournament in 2010 and 2014 respectively, while Pakistan won the Women’s tournaments in both editions.

The heart of the matter

A few months back in March, former South African keeper-batsman and ICC chief executive Mr. David Richardson stated that it was the right time to apply for the induction of cricket at the 2024 Olympics.

The recently concluded Women’s World Cup turned out to be a huge success which has definitely made cricket more “diverse” than it previously was as now, the general public can be hugely interested in Women’s Cricket just as it is in Men’s Cricket.

Currently, cricket does not have much chance to make the initial event of the 2024 Olympics but once the IOC announces the hosts of the 2024 and 2028 Olympics in their meeting at Lima in September, the organizing committee of the 2024 games can propose any additional events at the event.

What’s next?

Before any call can be made on cricket, the IOC will first chose the hosts of the 2024 Olympics, after which the organizing committee of that particular edition can propose the addition of cricket in the Olympics.

Author’s Take

It would be brilliant to see cricket become an Olympic sport, especially for India as it would definitely boost India’s medal tally at the Olympics.

However, the ICC and IOC will need to have talks on this which can only be done once the hosts for the 2024 and 2028 Olympics are announced.