Cricket in Olympics?
The youngsters take on the idea of the inclusion of cricket in 2020 Olympic.

With the start of the Beijing event less than a week away, Adam Gilchrist believed that cricket has the potential to be included in the Olympic Games which will secure the game’s global future. Although, considering the success of the new format and the Indian Premier League, he said Twenty 20 is the ideal version to be included in the 2020 Olympics. Let’s find out the Gen X’s view on this issue…

“It should go to the Olympics. But before that we have to make sure that it is spread to more parts of the world, so that more countries could participate. For that we have to put in the right efforts from now on, and carry on the developmental programs side by side, so it can be part of the Games in 5 or may be 10 years,” Sherin, 22, an computer engineering student.

“There are 104 members of ICC, and amongst them, there are only 8 to 10 countries that participate. So to be part of the Olympics, it has to be truly presented as a global sport and not just a few,” expressed Abhijeet Kulkarni, senior sports journalist of Hindustan Times.

“Nowadays more and more countries have started to play cricket, including USA and China. In fact, China has committed itself to be a major cricket force in the future. So I think that by 2020, the shortest version of the game will be ready to be part of the biggest sporting spectacle, The Olympic Game,” said Harshala Naik, Editor at KPO.

“I think cricket is not ready to be included in 2020 Olympics, because hardly 10-12 countries play cricket, so to include the twenty-20 format, we need to run a campaign which will teach the world how to play cricket in the first place,” said Sanket Parab, an engineering student.

As things stand now, cricket doesn’t have a chance to be included in the near future. A lot of lobbying and horse trading is required to get a sport to be included in the Games, as evidenced by the recent controversy regarding selection of venues and the resulting bribing allegations amongst the adjudicators,” said Diwakar Seth, a jewellery merchant and a cricket enthusiast.

The inclusion of cricket in Olympics will help spread cricket in new territories and raise its popularity amongst women. Before including cricket, we need to make our cricket popular in the majority of the competing Olympic nations, by making it exciting and ground-breaking in countries that haven't yet caught the 'cricket-bug'. This will also result in cricket getting more competitive and thereby flourishing in countries where it is currently played today.