International Cricket Council (ICC) has expressed its desire to include cricket in the Olympics and has started to prepare a bid for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
ICC believes Los Angeles would be a perfect venue for cricket to be included in the Olympics due to the huge number of cricket fans in the United States of America (USA). Approximately thirty million fans of the sport reside in the country.
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Cricket has only been included once in the history of the Olympics, back in 1900. Only Great Britain and France featured in that event. Cricket’s inclusion in 2028 could be a historic moment and would end a 128-year absence of the sport from the mega-event.
Cricket, one of the most popular sports in the world, has been included in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, set to be held in Birmingham. This will provide a perfect platform for the sport to showcase to the world what cricket can bring to the Olympics.
This will only be the second time in the Commonwealth Games history that cricket will be played. Previously, cricket was played at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia, with South Africa winning the competition.
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This time around, Commonwealth Games will feature Women’s cricket, with Pakistan, Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa, England directly qualifying for the tournament. One berth in the competition is reserved for a nation from the Caribbean, which will be decided through a separate tournament
ICC believes the success of the sport in the Commonwealth Games will help in their bid to include cricket in the Olympics. They said that cricket will add great value to the mega event and will help in establishing cricket as a mainstream sport in the world.
