Cricketers will now rub shoulders with the greatest athletes on the planet at the biggest sporting spectacle on Earth - the Olympics.
The development came following a historic IOC session in Mumbai, attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where he underlined the South Asian nation's growing prowess in sports before making a public pitch for hosting the 2036 Olympics.
The development came following a historic IOC session in Mumbai, attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where he underlined the South Asian nation's growing prowess in sports before making a public pitch for hosting the 2036 Olympics.
History of Cricket in Olympics
The only time cricket previously featured in the Olympics was in 1900, when the one event, men's cricket, was won by Great Britain, with France claiming silver.
However, both men's and women's cricket will be a part of the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, with all the matches being contested in the T20 format.
"It is so exciting that cricket is now an Olympic sport and will make its return at LA28. Players will get the chance to compete for an Olympic gold medal and be part of the games which will be so special. It's also a chance for more fans around the world to enjoy our fantastic sport", Mithali Raj, a former captain of the Indian women's cricket team, said.
Cricket's induction in the Summer Olympics means that the International Cricket Council (ICC), the global governing body of the sport, will have to redraw the cricketing calendar, which at the moment is jam-packed with bilateral events like the Ashes as well as ICC tournaments, including the ODI and T20 World Cups.
Indian fans, Cricket World Cup
© AP Photo / Saurabh Das
Cricket's Popularity - Reality Check
However, cricket's induction in the Olympics is expected to raise its global profile, given that only 12 countries play all formats of the game.
Furthermore, the ICC may have 108 members - 96 associate and 12 full members, cricket's popularity is largely dependent on its mass appeal in the Indian sub-continent, Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), South Africa, and England.
Although cricket is also a prominent sport in many Caribbean sovereign states, different teams do not represent their respective countries on the international stage.
Instead, players from 15 Caribbean nations and territories, consisting of Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, the United States Virgin Islands, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, the British Virgin Islands, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Montserrat.
Can Olympics Take Cricket to Newer Territories?
Inclusion in the Olympics, regarded as the pinnacle of sports, will offer the ICC a chance to present the sport in front of a vast spectrum of audiences spread across different geographical locations.
For example, cricket hardly has any presence in the Americas - either North or South, as it isn't a major sport in the US or Canada despite a large population of Indian-origin people in these developed nations.
The Asia Cup 2023 witness an epic clash between India and Pakistan.
© Photo : Twitter
Unlike a single game of cricket, which can last as long as five days (Test), a contest of football between two sides could finish off in three hours at the maximum.
But with the advent of T20 cricket, the duration of a match has come down to three and a half hours, which seems to be having a ripple effect on its popularity.
But with the advent of T20 cricket, the duration of a match has come down to three and a half hours, which seems to be having a ripple effect on its popularity.
Recent reports suggest that cricket has even caught the attention of the Chinese, who are now looking at developing world-class infrastructure for the sport in the country.
This is where, cricket's Olympic journey could lift the sport up and take it to markets (read nations) where it has never found a foothold.
Endless Commercial Opportunities
Moreover, it will open endless possibilities for commercial tie-ups in countries where the sport currently has virtually no presence.
Apart from this, as cricket grows in popularity in newer nations, more teams and players will join the existing sides and cricketers to make it a truly global sport like football, which is played in over 200 countries.
Once cricket appears in the Olympics, governments of states where it is not so popular right now may opt to invest in developing better facilities related to it, giving a major fillip to the growth of the sport in their nations.