According to Ricky Ponting, Australia legendary cricketer, cricket inclusion in Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games will introduce the game to a totally different audience. He stressed on how it would increase its global reach and popularity.
Cricket has been missing from the Olympic stage since its last appearance in 1900. However, after a long break, cricket is making a comeback with a bang at Los Angeles Olympics 2028.
With four other sports including baseball-softball, flag football, lacrosse and squash the LA28 Organising Committee indicated their desire to have it as part of them.
In Mumbai during the period of October last year, The International Olympic Committee (IOC) granted formal approval for cricket’s inclusion. This is a pivotal moment for the sport around the world and his fans.
“For our game it can only be a positive thing. It’s always been on top of almost every agenda for the last fifteen or twenty years that I’ve sat on committees -how do we get into Olympics? And finally it’s there.”
“We’re only four years away; hopefully by then in the US also with MLC (Major League Cricket) another four years down the path too growing yet more teams might even come out of MLC who knows or fathom it is going to give us an entry point into grassroots level cricket within America.”
“But you know what about the Olympics? It’s not about where it is being held actually…It’s really about those people that are started by this kind. With so many millions of people viewing these Games across earth; whole new audiences open up to any ways our games capture which already appears like every day. This could be nothing but good news for cricket,” said Ponting in an episode of The ICC Review show airing on TV channels, IANS reported .
He led Washington Freedom to win this year’s Major League Cricket title while being coached by Ricky Ponting, who won the ODI World Cup three times in his career. This gave him an idea of how Americans view cricket.
“So really it’s going to come down to facilities and infrastructure and all those sorts of things a number of teams that they will decide on, I think it’s only 6 or 7 teams maybe.”
“Qualification is thus going to be at a premium/ how you actually qualify for the Olympics. So there are so many things to think about here, but I’m just really excited with where this game is going and the new markets that we’re seeing emerge,” he concluded on MLC state.
Additionally, Ponting suggested how cricket may gain attention grabbing from baseball’s fanbase to increase its popularity. “I guess the best way I can put it is that we’ve all been at Major League Baseball games. It’s a huge event, America’s bat and ball game that lasts four hours and there has been less than one home run scored in every game ever played.”
“So when you compare baseball with what T20 cricket offers in terms of excitement and entertainment this should be an easy sell to kids in the US. So, that’d be kind of what angle I might be pushing on – just the excitement of the game itself. And if they do that, I think it’s very sustainable.”
“There are great chances especially with the Indian investment into MLC and their desire to stay involved and make Washington Freedom a household name in world cricket. Then I believe there are some fantastic opportunities.”
Lastly, Ponting expressed his enthusiasm for potentially serving as either a mentor or coach for Australia’s national team at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. “It would be quite an interesting thing I suppose being around an Olympic Games cricket team as a mentor. Having played at the Commonwealth Games myself I got to hang out with athletes in the villages so it was a surreal environment for any cricketer.”
“So look, obviously I wouldn’t say no but you know there will probably be many people who would want to become mentors or coaches of an Australian team in an Olympic Games. It would be something special to go through so who knows? We’ll keep our fingers crossed and see what happens.”
