ICC proposes 6-team men & women events for 2028 Olympics, IOC likely to decide in October

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is being linked with reports claiming that the world cricket governing body has proposed six-team T20 events for both men and women during the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Earlier on Saturday, reports claimed that the International Olympic Committee has rejected ICC’s proposal. However, a fresh report by ESPN Cricinfo has now claimed that the IOC will decide on the matter around October this year.

The report also claims that the Los Angeles 2023 Olympics organizers will finalize the list of new sports to be included in the marquee event by March. If ICC’s proposal is accepted by the IOC, the six participating teams would be the top six ranked teams in the ICC’s men’s and women’s T20 team rankings on a cut-off date. While the ICC is yet to finalize the structure of the tournament, it is understood that the body is discussing the options with the 2028 Olympics organizers.

T20 cricket made its debut at the Commonwealth Games in 2022

The reason behind ICC’s decision to recommend the six-team events is understood to be IOC’s drive to become more cost-efficient, which was revealed in its strategic plan named “Olympic Agenda 2020+5”. Given the range of complexities, cricket brings with itself, the guidance received by ICC from LA28 mentioned that both the men’s and women’s events need to be restricted to a single venue. The complexities include squads traveling with their support staff, and the no. of pitches required for playing and preparing.

It is pertinent to mention that women’s T20 cricket made its debut at the Commonwealth Games last year in Birmingham. This was the first time since 1998 that cricket was included in the tournament as an event. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led India women’s cricket team finished second in the tournament after losing to Australia in the summit clash.