Page 50 - The Indian EYE 043021

SPORTS
T10 cricket in Olympics?
You have got to Be Kidding
ricket in Olympics has
long been a hot topic
Cand has re-emerged in
the latest round of ICC meet-
ings.
One revelation from this
meeting reminded me of a
scene from Madagascar 2. It
goes like this.
“Attention. This is the ICC
speaking. We have good news
and bad news. The good news is
we have made a landing in the
Olympics. The bad news is—it
is T10 cricket.”
glance to the Past: a brief
History
Did you know cricket fea-
tured in the 1900 Paris Olympics?
• 1900 Olympics
Although cricket was initial-
ly scheduled in the inaugural
1896 Athens Olympics, it was
cancelled due to lack of inter-
est. For the 1900 edition, Neth-
erlands and Belgium pulled out,
while Great Britain & France
sent club teams for the 2-day
match.
Eventually Great Britain
won by 158 runs with only five
minutes remaining on day two.
It would take 98 years for crick- 1. Women’s Cricket will bene-
et to feature in another such
tournament.
• 1998 Kuala lumpur com-
monwealth games: 16 teams,
4 groups, and 50-overs format.
The tournament saw teams
like Jamaica & Barbados com-
pete independently along with
Malaysia, Canada, Northern 2. Cricket has the potential to
Ireland, and Scotland. Even-
tually South Africa, Australia,
and New Zealand won the
gold, silver, and bronze re-
spectively. Yes, South Africa
actually won something.
• guangzhou 2010 & Incheon 3. Due to shorter window, the Olympics has historically been 2028 LA Olympics, although
2014 asian games: Men/
Women competitions in T20
APRIL 30, 2021 | The Indian Eye 50
send a team for the 1998 Com-
monwealth due to scheduling
conflicts with County cricket.
Similar concerns drive the
opposition to T20 cricket in the
Olympics. Such a tournament
would imply having qualifica-
tion tournaments, which would
hamper the T20 calendar and
decrease value of the T20 World
Cup, which leads to possibly de-
creasing revenues.
the Verdict: Yay or Nay?
broKeN CriCKet dreams T10 cricket is not the ideal
NITESH MATHUR format.
Some people say it is a short-
www.brokencricketdreams.com ened version of T20. Wrong. It
is just an expanded Super Over.
Cricket is a game of skills and
format. India declined to send which would give chances to talent, but T10 may just be a
teams, while Bangladesh, Sri multiple teams rather than fluke, and nobody is interested
Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the 10-team two-month long in that. No place for bowlers
& even Japan won medals
slug fest known as the World and not great advertisement for
across the two tournaments. Cup. cricket.
Apart from hosts China & 4. T10 takes about 2 hours to However, the game has
South Korea, teams like Mal- complete, which is a plus for evolved. There was even a time
dives, Nepal, and Hong Kong short-spanned 21st century when colored clothing, day-
participated. spectators. night cricket, DRS, and T20
Pros & Cons cons: cricket had doubters.
1. T20 World Cup, ODI World "So, should cricket be tried
Pros: Cup, World Test Champi- in the Olympics? Well, why not?
It never hurts to try.
onship, & Olympics, not to Of course, technicalities
fit from expansion to newer mention T20 leagues. Too
teams. One of the stories many tournaments will cre- about the format and qualifica-
tion process can be decided later.
of the 2020 Women’s T20 ate dilution & overkill of
World Cup was Thailand’s cricket, which could have an When Can We see Cricket
qualification. Imagine how adverse effect on the sport in the olympics?
other smaller countries 2. T10 in the Olympics would
could similarly rise from the imply making it the fourth Cricket will be played in the
Olympics. official international format. 2022 Birmingham Common-
With T20I & Test cricket do- wealth Games. Only women’s
go from a ‘niche sport,’ only ing well, this would be cur- edition will take place—T20,
played in a fraction of the tains for the struggling 50- 8 teams, round-robin tourna-
former British common- over ODI format. ment, and a qualifier for a Ca-
wealth, to a much broader ribbean nation.
world audience due to tele- opposition to the idea Finally, USA Cricket’s long-
vision & media promotions. Cricket’s inclusion in the term goal has been to host the
format would have to be opposed by teams like England 2032 Brisbane Olympics is
a knock-out tournament, & India. England declined to probably a better bet.
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