<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Cricket's long Olympic exile could finally come to an end this week when Games chiefs meet in Mumbai to finalise the programme for Los Angeles 2028.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Twenty-eight sports are already confirmed on the schedule but cricket was one of five new sports formally proposed for inclusion by organisers for the Games on Monday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The International Cricket Council's proposal is for men's and women's Twenty20 competitions -- the shortest form of the international game.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We are delighted that LA28 have recommended cricket for inclusion in the Olympics," ICC chairman Greg Barclay said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Whilst this is not the final decision, it is a very significant landmark towards seeing cricket at the Olympics for the first time in more than a century."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If it makes the cut, it would be the first time cricket has featured since 1900, when a team from Britain beat a side representing France in Paris.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since then it has been in the Olympic wilderness, in part because cricket itself was quite happy to stand aside from the Games.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But in recent years the ICC has made clear it wants to be part of the global showpiece -- a move that could turbo-charge the sport and help it exploit new markets.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Our sport is united behind this bid, and we see the Olympics as a part of cricket's long-term future," Barclay said in 2021.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We have more than a billion fans globally and almost 90 percent of them want to see cricket at the Olympics."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The game has had support from the highest places in the Olympic movement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Late ICC president Jacques Rogge said in 2011: "We would welcome an application. It (cricket) is an important, popular sport and very powerful on television."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The current president, Thomas Bach, has also backed the inclusion of cricket, which featured at last year's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Indian hotbed -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This week the IOC executive board is meeting in Mumbai, ahead of a full IOC session from October 15 to October 17, which would effectively rubberstamp the decision.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Cricket could not have asked for a better city in which to make its case.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The IOC session is being held in one of the hotbeds of the sport as India hosts the men's 50-over World Cup.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Cricket, with its multiple formats and quirky rules, has long been a source of curiosity in areas of the world where it is not played.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But the global language of cold, hard cash is easier to understand.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The arguments that Olympic cricket would clash with the English season or that the game takes too long look increasingly outdated.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The global calendar is now a mishmash of international cricket, domestic cricket and franchise cricket, with multiple formats jostling for attention.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The wildly popular T20 Indian Premier League, which has spawned several other franchise competitions worldwide, means traditional five-day Test cricket, long regarded as the pinnacle of the game, no longer holds sway.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The IPL, featuring global superstars, has helped India become the unquestioned economic driving force of cricket, thanks to legions of fans and lucrative broadcasting deals in a nation where the game is almost a religion.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Adding cricket to the Olympic programme is an obvious move, financially speaking.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It would tap into the lucrative south Asian market, attracting fans in countries such as India and Pakistan that have not traditionally been strong in the core Olympic sports.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It would also potentially help cricket access millions of dollars of public and corporate funding currently reserved for Games sports.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That would benefit emerging cricket nations but could also help cash-strapped established countries such as South Africa. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>