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What's the story?
The Marleybone Cricket Club's World Cricket Committee has urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to reconsider its stance on the inclusion of the sport in the Olympics.
In case you didn't know...
The Marleybone Cricket Club, popularly known as MCC is a prestigious cricket club based in London that was founded in 1787. The MCC owns the copyright to the Laws of Cricket.
Cricket has been played in the Olympics just once till date at the 1900 Summer Olympics with only a men's contest, and Great Britain won the gold medal.
The heart of the matter
Marleybone Cricket Club's World Cricket Committee, that comprises of former players like Mike Gatting, Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara, Sourav Ganguly, Shakib Al-Hasan and Rod Marsh has requested the BCCI to support cricket's inclusion in the Summer Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been open to the idea of cricket being featured at the marquee event but BCCI, the world's richest and powerful cricket board has been rather unwelcoming to the prospect.
After the meetings of the MCC World Cricket Committee this week, the panel has requested the BCCI to reconsider its stance.
"The game's application to become an Olympic sport is gathering momentum and that the only remaining barrier is India's reluctance to proceed," an MCC release stated.
The Indian board has been apprehensive about the idea due to being protective of their monopoly over the game of cricket.
What's next?
Cricket's possible inclusion in Olympics now seems to be hinged on one federation, with all the other countries having given their nod. It remains to be seen what call the BCCI takes on this issue.
Author's take
Cricket is a widely popular sport, but the number of countries that it are playing are few when compared to other mainstream sports, and inclusion in Olympics could prove to be a catalyst for further expansion of the game worldwide.
