The International Cricket Council (ICC) is making every effort to include cricket in the 2028 Olympics. This information has been given by MCC Cricket Committee Chairman Mike Gatting. He said this by referring to Lords’ new ICC executive Manu Swahane.
“We were talking with Manu Sawhney the ICC chief exec, and he was very hopeful we can get cricket into the 2028 Olympics. “That’s what they’re working towards at the moment and that would be a huge bonus for cricket worldwide, it would be fantastic,” Gatting was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
“It’s two weeks, that’s a good thing about it, it’s not a month, so it’s one of those [events] where scheduling for two weeks should be fine once every four years once you do the first one. You’re going to have – one hopes – a four-year period, once you know you’ve been accepted into the Olympics, that gives you a chance to actually shape your two weeks, so it’s not as if it is butted into the schedule.
“I think the next 18 months will be very interesting as to how we do that. One of the problems has been negated, where the BCCI is now working with NADA, the drugs agency, which it wasn’t previously a part of. That will help a long way towards the sport being whole, which is what we need it to be to apply for the Olympics, both men and women to play and all countries to comply,” Gatting added.
Cricket’s history in multi sport event
Its worth mentioning that cricket has also been a part of Asian Games and Commonwealth Games in 1998. Now women’s cricket has also been included in the Commonwealth Games to be held in Birmingham in 2022.
Earlier, ICC Chief Executive David Richardson had said that cricket could feature in 2028 Los Angeles Olympic games. During its meeting, the ICC expressed the desire to include cricket in summer Olympic games.
