Cricket at the Olympics
Cricket is a sport that is played amongst a handful of nations. It is rather a lengthy game in that even the shortest format, lasts for more than 3 hours. A lot of other games takes less than 50% of that time. As such, cricket can never be a global sport. Even in the countries that play the game, interest is dwindling. Test cricket, which is ultimate, has completely failed to pull crowds in most of the countries. T20 is the current craze and as more and more games are played, even that will lose its popularity.
There is a growing ambition within the ICC to make cricket an Olympic sport. Once at the Olympics, ICC’s rule of not allowing more than certain number of teams to compete, may not hold true. As a result, there is likely to be great imbalances amongst the competing teams. India against Djibouti or Australia against Fiji Islands. A whole host of records will be overturned because of such mismatch. Will Rohit Sharma will be happy with a 75 against the top team as against a 250 against an absolute minnow?
Is cricket a widely practised sport?
One major criteria for any sport to be considered an Olympic sport is that it must be a widely practised sport. In other words, a lot of countries will have to express interest in participating at the sport during the event. Cricket is not a global sport and it never will be. Most of the countries will find the rules too complex to follow. A lot of countries will not find the players to compete at the highest level.
There are other factors too for cricket to be considered. The important point being cost and complexity factor. It means that the game must be capable of being played within the existing infrastructure. Now, we all know that cricket is a unique game. It must have absolutely the perfect conditions to be played. If cricket is included as an Olympic sport, the host if they are a non-cricket playing nation, will have to invest in huge stadiums, turf wickets and various other infrastructure projects. These stadiums may not be of any value after the event unless they are built like a multi-purpose arena. the return on investment will not be that high.
Non-cricket playing host will not find the curator to prepare match-fit pitches. ICC will have to invest in such a scenario. This is just one of the aspect. ICC will have to invest in umpires and various other officials too. The cost for ICC is bound to increase.
Importance of India at the games
India and the BCCI is important for the success of the event at the Olympics. India with its huge following can really make a spectacle at the games. It depends on how much BCCI is inclined to send the best team to the games. If the games happens during IPL, ICC and Olympics can kiss goodbye to the game. India will not only not send their best team, they will not send any team at all. All of the Indian players will be engaged with any of the franchise and it will be impossible to send a proper team.
BCCI for now, seems to think that they will indeed participate in the games should cricket be included
BCCI secretary Jay Shah telling the Hindustan Times, “The BCCI and the ICC are on the same page as far as participation in the Olympics is concerned.”
However, it remains to be seen what will BCCI do if the games is held during the IPL window. Will they send a 3rd string Indian team to the games?
Huge gain for broadcasters
On the otherhand, if India do send their best team to the games, that will be a huge bonanza for the broadcasting companies. The impact the 1.5 billion sub-continent will create will be gigantic. The rights is likely to be sold in billions. There is a real chance that with cricket and India invested in the games, the rights of the games itself will be in the multiple billions. The size of the population and the craze this game has on the country will be hard to miss for any broadcaster.
Laxman does not make much sense while talking
Laxman says the time is right. “I think it’s worth giving it a shot… cricket is a global sport and in some countries it is a really sought-after sport, but for it to have a significance, compared to athletics or soccer, I think that can only happen if you are at the Games. There’s 200-plus countries at the Olympics and imagine them watching you there. It will be so good for the sport – and, on behalf of the players, I can say they will do anything to get that medal.”
Laxman was a good batter with quite a few outstanding knocks in his career but in this instance, he does not seem to make any sense. 200 plus countries will never ever watch the game. It will be watched by the usual suspects. The cricket playing nations. Others will just choose to ignore. For eg, Indians do not watch rugby or gymnastics or for that matter even football at the Olympics. We simply ignore them. Same will be the case for cricket as well.
Ravi Shastri may resign
It is being speculated that the Indian coach may resign after the T20 World Cup. It is only speculation as of now and nothing concrete has come from Shastri. There is every chance that he may not want to leave especially if India are to win both the England series and the T20 World Cup. I will write about Shastri’s coaching tenure in a separate blog if he does decide to move on. My gut feeling is that if India win both the England series and the World T20, he will definitely move on because he would have proven a point or two by then. Let us wait and watch.