Former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist is leading the campaign to get Twenty20 cricket into the Olympic Games in 2020.Gilchrist played in the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) this year and he said the success of Twenty20 cricket around the world should be used as a springboard to develop the game.
"Many of us who`ve experienced international Twenty20 cricket and the IPL are convinced that cricket should bid to become an Olympic sport in time for the 2020 Olympic Games, wherever they`re held," Gilchrist told Indian newspaper, the Deccan Chronicle, on Monday.
"With Twenty20 cricket here to stay, now is the time for the 10 full member nations of the International Cricket Council to plan for the development of the sport over the next 100 years," Gilchrist said.
"The challenge for all of us who love the game is to spread the word of cricket to parts of the globe that have never heard of it and currently don`t play our sport.
"I believe the Olympic Games is the vehicle the sport should use to aggressively sell the message of our sport to all 202 competing Olympic nations." The last three sports to enter the Games were triathlon, taekwondo and badminton, and cricket will face stiff competition to get into the Olympics.
Golf, rugby, karate, roller sports and squash are all keen but with the people of cricket-crazy India, Pakistan and Bangladesh accounting for 22 percent of the world`s population, cricket`s potential value to the International Olympic Committee is huge.
Cricket was recognised as an Olympic sport last year, the first stage in the process for getting full admission to the Games, and Gilchrist said the players would jump at the chance to take part.
"Take it from someone who has won almost everything cricket has to offer -- the Olympics is the absolute pinnacle in sport," Gilchrist said.
"Cricketers won`t care about the money. The chance to stand on top of the Olympic podium, to wear an Olympic gold medal and the pride of belting out your national anthem would be a life-changing money-can`t-buy experience."
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