Cricket's Olympic Return in 2028: A Strategic Play for India and Global Audience

When cricket returns to the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, it will bring far more than bats, balls and wickets. Its inclusion reflects a strategic calculation by Olympic leaders that the surest route to billions of new viewers runs through India, cricket’s commercial heartland and a country they believe is increasingly central to the Games’ future. Cricket, absent from the Olympics since 1900, offers the International Olympic Committee (IOC) something no recent addition has: direct access to a fan base of more than two billion people and, crucially, the commercial power of the Indian market. As the Games seek a younger and broader audience, it may prove the most valuable sport added to the Olympic programme in decades. Cricket has been one of the major global sports not to feature in the Olympics, IOC sports director Pierre Ducrey said in an interview. “It is very strong in markets where maybe you could say the Olympic Games today may not have penetrated as much as they have in other markets,” he said.