Rahul Dravid keen on cricket being part of Olympics
Former Indian cricket team captain Rahul Dravid has backed the idea of the sport becoming a part of the Olympic Games. There have been talks of making T20 cricket a part of the Olympics with an ICC survey back in 2018 even suggesting that 87 per cent of the fans wanted the sport to be part of the global sporting event. Here's more.
'I think it will be great for the game'
Dravid feels cricket's inclusion will be great for the game as T20 is being played is so many countries. "I thins it will be great for the game if the T20 format can become an Olympic sport because there are 75 (T20 nations), cricket is being played in so many countries," Dravid told ESPN Cricinfo.
Dravid gives example of the IPL citing facilities
Dravid gave an example of the just-concluded Indian Premier League in the UAE in terms of facilities being right. "As we've just seen, the success of the IPL was in a large part due to the quality of wickets that were put out for the teams. Getting a lot of that right, if you can get the facilities in place, then why not."
Cricket will come with its challenges, feels Dravid
Dravid believes that it's a challenge to include cricket in the Olympics as one requires certain facilities. "Obviously, it comes with its challenges, not least of all cricket's a game that requires certain kinds of facilities for it to be successful," he added.
'I am certainly for the expansion of the T20 game'
Dravid is batting for the expansion of T20 cricket and wants it to get into the Olympics. "I am certainly for the expansion of the T20 game. And yeah, if it works in the schedule, if it's possible I think cricket should endeavour to try and get into the Olympics at some stage. It might take some time, but yeah, why not," he added.
ICC continues to push for cricket's inclusion at Olympics
Recently, it was stated that the International Cricket Committee (ICC) is continuously working towards pushing for cricket's inclusion at the Olympics. The ICC has asked its member nations to analyze the financial benefits if cricket's inclusion is successful. According to a report in ESPN Cricinfo, ICC sent a questionnaire to all the member nations asking them to quantify the potential financial support.
