ICC mulling introducing T20 cricket in Olympics by 2020

Thursday, 19 January 2012 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The International Cricket Council is considering a bid to have cricket back into the Olympics after over a century, Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat has said.

Lorgat said Twenty20 format in international cricket is suitable for the Olympics.

“We have never had a format that would lend itself to playing in the Olympics until Twenty20 came to the fore .We are starting to have a look at that,” Sport 24 quoted Lorgat, as saying.

“In the strategic plan the board approved in 2011, we will evaluate properly what the benefits are for Olympic participation. There are pros and cons to that decision. We would need to see what the implications would be on the Cricket World Cup,” he added.

Cricket has been played only once at the 1990 Olympics but it was officially recognized as an Olympic sport 12 years later.

The International Cricket Council (ICC), the sport’s world governing body, was officially recognised as a federation by the International Olympic Committee in 2010, which means cricket can bid for its return in the 2020 Games.

Lorgat, however said that international cricket’s tight playing schedule would be a major obstacle in ensuring the sport’s return to the Olympics.

“If we were to introduce cricket into the Olympics, that is another extended period of time taken out of the calendar,” he said.