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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on the request of the Ministry of Sports of the Government of India, has decided to field both men’s and women’s teams at the Asian Games for the first time. Although this has not been confirmed, the list of approval is going to be submitted by the cricketing body to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) by June 30, 2023, for the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023, hosted by China.
This move is going to be a revolutionary step in taking cricket to global audiences and a shot in the arm for the game’s aspiration to get back to the biggest sporting event in the world- the Olympics.
Biggest eyeballs to the Asian Games
Although the Indian team will not be sending the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to the Asian Games due to this being the ODI World Cup year. But thanks to IPL, no Indian player is an unknown commodity in the cricketing market. With the likes of Rinku Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad becoming household names, the audiences are sure to tune into the cricket broadcast of the continental event.
The maiden edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) and The Hundred Women and the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022 in the UK showed that the love for the women's game has increased by leaps and bounds. When Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodriguez and Harmanpreet Kaur will take the field, the broadcasters will be in for huge profits.
Biggest cricketing rivalry on display
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Due to India not sending its men’s and women’s teams to the Asian Games on the previous two occasions (2010 and 2014), the world was devoid of watching the biggest cricket rivalry between India and Pakistan.
As evident from the huge crowd at India vs Pakistan clash in CWG 2022, where cricket was played among women’s teams for the first time, seekers for the biggest rivalry are all around the world. China will be no different. It might become a problem of space as the cricket stadium in Hangzhou might not be able to accommodate the huge amounts of fans pouring in to watch India play Pakistan.
Cricket’s bid for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be strengthened
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has been doing the rounds of the International Olympic Council (IOC) and Los Angeles Olympics Committee ever since cricket was shortlisted along with eight other sports for the 2028 Olympics. India's participation at the Asian Games could be a shot in the arm for the cricketing body to showcase the interest of the people and the ability of the sport to draw vast audiences even in uncharted territories.
With BCCI secretary Jay Shah being a part of the ICC's Olympics working group, and the IOC treating India as one of its biggest markets, the Asian Games' success is only going to bolster the game’s chances of appearing at LA28. The final decision on which sport among the nine short-listed for LA28 is going to be added to the list of already finalised 28 sports, will be taken at ICO’s Mumbai session, another indicator of why cricket could make it to the Olympics after 128 years.
Big boost to India’s medal prospects
In the last three Asian Games Team India missed out on opportunities of finishing higher on the medals tally by one or two gold medals. If BCCI sends the full-strength women’s team and even a second-string men’s team, chances are very high that India will increase its medal tally by two golds and therefore rank higher in the medal table at the end of the event.
