ICC will bid for cricket’s inclusion in 2028 Olympics

The ICC has been making the case for cricket’s inclusion for a while and the bid will also have the backing from the world’s richest board BCCI as made clear by secretary Jay Shah recently.

The ICC has also formed an Olympic Working Group which will work on making the game part of the Olympics starting from 2028.

“Our sport is united behind this bid, and we see the Olympics as a part of cricket’s long-term future. We have more than a billion fans globally and almost 90 per cent of them want to see cricket at the Olympics,” ICC chairman Greg Barclay said in a statement.

“Clearly cricket has a strong and passionate fanbase, particularly in South Asia where 92% of our fans come from, whilst there are also 30 million cricket fans in the USA. The opportunity for those fans to see their heroes competing for an Olympic medal is tantalising.” Barclay also congratulated the organisers of the recently concluded Tokyo Games which were held under the dark shadow of COVID-19 pandemic.

“Firstly on behalf of everyone at the ICC, I would like to congratulate the IOC, Tokyo 2020 and the people of Japan for staging such an incredible Games in such difficult circumstances.

“We feel now is the time to put our best foot forward and show what a great partnership cricket and the Olympics could be,” he said.