The chances of T20 cricket becoming part of the Olympics sport at the 2028 Los Angeles games has brightened. Paraag Marathe, the head of the Cricket USA, said international cricket had united behind the effort for the first time, and that even though the Olympics would be in the middle of the English cricket season it would pay dividends for the sport to be involved.
He met Ian Watmore, the chairman of the ECB, in London for talks on the next stage of the cam-
paign to gain Olympic status. “I am hopeful that it is very likely,” Marathe said. “For the first time 106 ICC member nations are supportive about getting cricket into the Olympics.
“You are talking about the second biggest sport in the world, and for the sport to be played in the biggest media market in the world in LA 2028 is just such a tremendous opportunity. For the first time we have a united effort of wanting to be in the Olympics. We have a billion fans of the sport around the world, including 30 million in the US, and we are just in the nascent stages of building something. Obviously we do it with full humility and deference to the IOC [Inter-
national Olympic Committee] and the LA 2028 committee on being able to compete with other sports to be selected.”
Marathe said the plan was for the T20 format to be used, but that there was flexibility if the IOC preferred something else, such as the Hundred. “The T20 format is probably the best one - it is easily digestible and works, it fits in with the format of American sports, which is roughly three hours,” he told the Sport Unlocked podcast. “It’s an understood format because of the success of the IPL but we will work with the IOC and if there is a different format they prefer then we are open to it.”