Cricket’s return to Olympics based on success of IPL | Cricket News
As cricket charted its way back into the Olympic fold after more than 120 years, it had one major reference point: the Indian Premier League (IPL).The competition wasn’t even 10 years old when Los Angeles was awarded the 2028 Olympics. However, it had caught the imagination of the Games organisers not just for its money-spinning ability but also the match-day fanfare, the heady mix of sport and entertainment as well as for showing the full potential of the sport that, outside the Commonwealth, was mocked for being too long, too slow and too complex.
“We want to recreate that environment,” said Casey Wasserman, the head of the Los Angeles Olympics Organising Committee.
Wasserman was speaking moments after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) members rubber-stamped cricket’s return to the Games for the first time since Paris 1900 during its Summit here on Monday.
Cricket’s path to the Olympics after a long exile is indelibly inked with IPL’s footsteps. The thrust provided the league in the rise of the T20 format, followed countries across continents, is seen as one of the reasons it was considered to be a part of the Olympics, which earlier couldn’t accommodate the 50-over format.
Then, the IOC relied on the advice of Nita Ambani, co-owner of Mumbai Indians, for the sport’s inclusion. Moreover, the LA Olympics cricket matches could be held at a stadium that is being built another IPL franchise – Kolkata Knight Riders.
Wasserman experienced the IPL first hand in 2010. And in an instant, he was sold.
“To have that expertise, that understanding, how to operate a tournament at that level, how to attract the greatest players in the world, how to make it the most exciting environment…” the American sports executive gushed on the sidelines of the IOC Session in Mumbai. “I will never forget my first IPL match. It was electric.”
And so, in 2017, after Los Angeles was awarded the Games, cricket was included in the initial shortl of 14 sports that could be added to the programme on their recommendation.
That l was pruned to nine sports and cricket continued to feature prominently in their plans. “As we went through the processes, it became quite obvious we’d be making a make if we didn’t include it,” Wasserman said.
Throughout this process, Wasserman added, they had a ‘deep and long engagement with the cricket community in India and the IPL’.
“The engagement has been deep and long. The ICC has been great in that process. And obviously, we are going to learn a lot from the ICC but frankly from the cricket community in India and the IPL,” he said.
IPL crowd during a game. (FILE)
Indian expertise
While the American organisers studied the impact of the IPL and professional leagues modelled on it, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach said they relied on advice from Nita Ambani, who is also the only Indian member of the world body.
“Cricket has evolved over recent years. What I can see, what we all can see is great development of cricket and we have always been made aware of this our IOC member in India Nita Ambani, who has given good advice,” Bach said. “We had this discussion with the organising committee of LA. So everything came together.”
Italy’s gold medal-winning shooter Niccolo Campriani, now the sports director of the LA Games, said he witnessed the high levels of interest during the women’s cricket matches at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games last year.
The Women’s Premier League and other professional competitions, he added, provided a ‘unique platform. “These professional leagues (are a) unique platform to engage with a whole new community of athletes,” Campriani said. “As an athlete, it’s going to be life-changing.”
Shah Rukh Khan reacted to KKR’s disappointing loss against MI in IPL on Twitter (Photo: KKRiders/twitter)
Cricket’s return to the Olympics, though, comes with certain conditions. Karl Stoss, the chairman of the Olympic programme commission, said they will ‘monitor closely’ that the participating nations field ‘their best players’ at the Games.Most Read
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And the IOC member from Ivory Coast Tidjane Thiam said the sport must increase its footprint to at least 75 percent of the 206 nations recognised the IOC. At present, Thiam said, cricket is played in ‘less than 50 percent of the national federations’.
Bach expressed hope that the sport will overcome these hurdles. And if it does, and when cricket returns to the Olympics, it’s likely to be played in an arena built in collaboration with the Shah Rukh Khan-owned Kolkata Knight Riders, who also own the LA franchise of Major League Cricket.
Wasserman said he’s already met the franchise’s owners regarding this matter. “The Bollywood connection there is obviously powerful and exciting for us. So if they are able to create a facility, we’d love them to be the host of cricket,” Wasserman said. “But obviously that’s their responsibility for their team. LA Knight Riders, I guess, is what it’s going to be called. And so if it comes in time for ’28, it’s great. If not, we have other options.”
