olympics-and-cricket

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Cricket is definitely the most popular sport in the South Asian region. However, there remain vast pockets of the world where it hasn't reached this level of popularity and there is no infrastructure in place either for the growth of the game. Having said that, cricket is one of the rare sports that keeps on reinventing itself to stay relevant to the changing demands of the time and society.

Innovations like the day-night Test matches as well as formats like T20 cricket and The Hundred are part of this initiative. With the shorter formats of the sport becoming popular, the International Cricket Council (ICC) CEO Geoff Allardice has said that the world cricket governing body's bid for cricket's inclusion at the Olympics is not about making money.

He said that the idea is to take the sport to what is at present recognised as a "non-cricketing market".

"In many of our members, being seen as an Olympic sport and having an association with the government and the national Olympic movement is something that is going to be really beneficial in terms of facilities and high-performance assistance,” Allardice was quoted as saying in SEN Radio show 'This Is Your Journey – thanks to Tobin Brothers'.

"It's certainly not a money-making exercise from our point of view, it's about getting exposure for cricket in markets where we may not be popular. And the other one is about giving all of our 106 members the opportunity to engage more closely with their governments," he added.

The ICC official also said that being a part of the Olympics will also be key to having strong relationships with respective governments among its member nations.

It should be noted here that ICC had already confirmed that it is determined to bid for cricket's inclusion at the 2028 Los Angeles as well as the 2032 Brisbane Games. Meanwhile, women's T20 cricket is already about to make its debut at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with the men's game having already made a solitary appearance in the Commonwealth Games in the 1998 edition in Kuala Lumpur.