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‘Twenty20 cricket perfect fit for Olympics’

The United States' ambassador to India believes his compatriots will come to share his joy in the "unabashed fun" of Twenty20 cricket when the format features at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. International cricket's shortest form was approved as one of five new sports for LA 2028 during the International Olympic Committee's session in Mumbai on Monday. Flag football, baseball/softball, lacrosse and squash were the others. Eric Garcetti, a former mayor of Los Angeles, told reporters in Mumbai late Monday that his passion for cricket had grown during his time living in the UK, but blossomed after he took his post in India six months ago. "I became a real fan when I came here and the T20 format, because it's so fast," he said. "Most of us don't have a few days to watch a Test match or an entire seven-hour stretch for a World Cup match. But here to see two or three hours of unabashed fun, I'm a convert." Cricket's only previous appearance at the Olympics was during the 1900 Games in Paris, where a team from Great Britain defeated France in a lone match. "This is a great day for the Olympic movement, a great day for India, a great day for the United States and a great day for cricket fans everywhere," said Garcetti. "I think it will ignite a new generation of cricket players and cricket fans... We think that this format is perfect for the Olympics, perfect for cricket, and no better place to launch than here, in the middle of cricket madness." The Indian Premier League, featuring the game's global stars, has cemented India's position as the unquestioned economic driving force of the sport, thanks to legions of fans and lucrative broadcasting deals in a nation where the game is almost a religion. Monday's vote also took place while India stages the men's 50-over Cricket World Cup. Major League Cricket, a professional Twenty20 League, launched in the United States in July, with the US a co-host of next year's men's T20 World Cup together with territories in the West Indies. "By the time of the Olympics, not only Major League Cricket will be significant in the US, we'll have the facilities and the fanbase," said Garcetti. On a more serious note, Garcetti voiced his support for the concept of the Olympic truce, amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Hamas. "The tradition of the Olympics was the Olympic truce," he said. "In ancient times, everybody put down their weapons to have sports unite us... So we hope that this inspires people that peace is better than war, that participating together is better than conflict."

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Filed Under: on Tuesday 17 October 2023

‘Massive day’ as cricket approved for LA Games

Cricket will feature as one of five new sports at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, organisers announced Monday. A vote of the International Olympic Committee's session in Mumbai approved cricket, together with baseball/softball, flag football, squash and lacrosse. The IOC's executive board last week accepted a proposal by LA organisers for Twenty20 cricket, the sport's shortest format, to be included along with the four other new events. But the final choice still had to be voted on Monday at the IOC session in Mumbai, one of the global centres for cricket, as India hosts the men's 50-over Cricket World Cup. Los Angeles chiefs have proposed a six-team event, in both men's and women's T20 cricket. The United States is set to field sides as the host nation, but no firm decision has been made on the number of teams, or how they will qualify. Cricket last featured at the 1900 Paris Olympics, when a team from Britain beat a side representing France. Adding cricket to the Olympic programme is an obvious move, financially speaking. It would tap into the lucrative South Asian market, attracting fans in countries such as India and Pakistan. The Indian Premier League, featuring cricket's global stars, has helped India become the unquestioned economic driving force of the sport, thanks to legions of fans and lucrative broadcasting deals in a nation where the game is almost a religion. Meanwhile Major League Cricket, a professional Twenty20 League, launched in the United States in July. "It's a win-win situation," International Cricket Council chairman Greg Barclay told reporters in Mumbai of cricket's inclusion in the LA 2028 programme. "It's a massive day for cricket," the New Zealander added. "We've got global sport, what I think is the fastest-growing global sport, but getting onto the biggest sporting stage in the world, the Olympics, is a massive shot in the arm for the game." But the IOC said Monday the status of boxing at the 2028 Games remains "on hold" after it stripped the International Boxing Association (IBA) of its recognition following a dispute over how the sport is governed. Boxing has been part of every Olympics since 1920 and will feature at next year's Paris Games. But in June, the IBA was effectively expelled from the Olympic movement following a bitter dispute between Games chiefs and its Russian president, Umar Kremlev. That move came following concerns over the credibility of IBA-sanctioned tournaments, as well as the boxing governing body's finances and governance.

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Filed Under: on Monday 16 October 2023

Cricket set for shot at Olympic glory

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. 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. The International Cricket Council's proposal is for men's and women's Twenty20 competitions – the shortest form of the international game. "We are delighted that LA28 have recommended cricket for inclusion in the Olympics," ICC chairman Greg Barclay said. "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." 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. Since then it has been in the Olympic wilderness, in part because cricket itself was quite happy to stand aside from the Games. 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. "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. "We have more than a billion fans globally and almost 90 percent of them want to see cricket at the Olympics." The game has had support from the highest places in the Olympic movement. 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." The current president, Thomas Bach, has also backed the inclusion of cricket, which featured at last year's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. 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. Cricket could not have asked for a better city in which to make its case. The IOC session is being held in one of the hotbeds of the sport as India hosts the men's 50-over World Cup. 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. But the global language of cold, hard cash is easier to understand. The arguments that Olympic cricket would clash with the English season or that the game takes too long look increasingly outdated. The global calendar is now a mishmash of international cricket, domestic cricket and franchise cricket, with multiple formats jostling for attention. 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. 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. Adding cricket to the Olympic programme is an obvious move, financially speaking. 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. It would also potentially help cricket access millions of dollars of public and corporate funding currently reserved for Games sports. That would benefit emerging cricket nations but could also help cash-strapped established countries such as South Africa.

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Filed Under: on Tuesday 10 October 2023

Cricket cracker to hammer blow

The Asian Games wrapped up on Sunday after two weeks of thrilling sporting highs and lows in Hangzhou. AFP Sport highlights five memorable moments from the Olympic-sized event, which features 12,000 athletes in 40 sports across 54 venues: Nepal became the first men's team to score more than 300 runs in T20 international cricket as they rewrote the record books against part-timers Mongolia. They bludgeoned 314-3 in their 20 overs, beating the previous highest of 278-3 by Afghanistan against Ireland in 2019. Teenager Kushal Malla crashed the fastest T20 international century, off 34 balls, and ended up 137 not out off 50. Dipendra Singh Airee finished the innings in ridiculous fashion. He raced to his fifty off nine balls, another T20 world record, with eight sixes. Nepal's 26 sixes were also the most scored in a T20 innings. ESports made its debut as a medal event at the Asian Games -- a key step that could lead to inclusion in the Olympics. Audiences of overwhelmingly young spectators packed out a 4,500-capacity arena in the hope of catching one of their heroes, with the most popular undoubtedly South Korea's Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok. China made history with the first eSports gold, beating Malaysia in the smartphone game Arena of Valor. "The audience who loves eSports and the veterans in the eSports industry have been looking forward to this for a long time," said China's captain Luo Siyuan. South Korea's red-faced rollerskater Jung Cheol-won had nowhere to hide after coasting into an early celebration, a "big mistake" that cost gold. As Jung, the anchor in the 3,000m relay, raised his arms to celebrate, Taiwan's Huang Yu-lin lunged his skate forward to cross the line first by one-hundredth of a second for what he called a "miracle" victory. "While you were celebrating, I was still fighting," said Huang. "I made a rather big mistake," said a sheepish Jung. "I am very sorry. I apologise to my teammates and to our fans who supported us. It's all my fault." China's Wu Yanni went into the women's 100m hurdles final as one of the favourites in front of a packed home stadium on the country's national day. But a false start earned her a red card that she furiously protested, along with India's Jyothi Yarraji, who was also ejected for reacting to Wu and moving before the gun. Both hurdlers were eventually allowed to race, with Wu finishing second behind teammate Lin Yuwei and Yarraji coming third. Wu was then disqualified long after the celebrations in the stadium had ended, with Yarraji upgraded to silver. "It's completely messy," said Yarraji. An athletics official suffered a broken leg after being hit by a hammer hurled during competition by Kuwait's Ali Zankawi. Huang Qinghua was sitting on a chair outside the throwing circle when Zankawi aborted his attempt, with his 7.26kg (16lb) hammer flying into the protective netting and smashing into the official's right leg. Huang was carried out of the arena on a stretcher and had surgery in hospital. Zankawi visited the unfortunate Huang the next day in hospital to apologise. "Thank god the hammer hit the ground before it hit his leg," told AFP.

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Filed Under: on Sunday 8 October 2023

Ashraf honours Blind Cricket Team

Zaka Ashraf, Chairman Management Committee PCB, honoured Pakistan's Blind Cricket team and their officials on Friday at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore for winning gold medal at the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) World Games 2023, held in Birmingham.  Pakistan Blind cricket team demonstrated skills and resilience in the IBSA World Games, emerging as the champions beating India twice in the tournament.  In the T20 format, in a five-team tournament, Pakistan remained unbeaten and defeated India, Bangladesh, Australia and England before clinching the medal by defeating India again by eight wickets on 26 August 2023. In recognition of their remarkable success, Mr Zaka Ashraf, presented each player and official with a cheque of Rs 300,000 as a token of appreciation and encouragement for their continued dedication to the sport. 

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Filed Under: on Friday 6 October 2023

Asian Games: India's women win cricket gold on debut

India struck gold on their Asian Games cricket debut when they beat in-form Sri Lanka by 19 runs in the women's final in Hangzhou on Monday. They had declined to enter any teams on the two previous occasions cricket was played at the multisport event, at Guangzhou in 2010 and Incheon in 2014. "It's a gold medal for the whole of India," said batter Richa Ghosh. Batting first India reached 116-7 in their 20 overs with Smriti Mandhana (46) and Jemimah Rodrigues (42) putting on 73 for the second wicket. "Winning a gold medal is something you dream about," said Rodrigues. "It's a reward for all the efforts we have put in over so many years." Sri Lanka's chase started badly when they were reduced to 14-3 in the fifth over by a devastating spell from right-arm seamer Titas Sadhu. She took two wickets in her first four balls and another in her third over to finish with remarkable figures of three wickets for six runs. Sri Lanka, who had beaten England in a white-ball series for the first time earlier this month, were always behind the run rate despite Hasini Perera looking to accelerate, hitting four fours and a six in a rapid 25. When Nilakshi de Silva was out after a battling 23, Sri Lanka were 78-5 needing 39 more with only 23 balls remaining. Two more wickets saw them face a near-impossible 25 off the last over and could only muster five as India began to celebrate. "It's a golden first for us," India assistant coach Rajib Dutta told AFP. "Many more to come I hope. "It's a low-scoring wicket so we thought 110 would be a good score, but when Jemimah and Mandhana were together we thought 130-135 might be possible so we were a little disappointed by 116," he added. Sri Lankan all-rounder Oshadi Ranasinghe said they had missed a good opportunity to win gold. "Looking at the way we batted, we have to get more disciplined," she said. Accumulating runs has not been easy all tournament at the Zhejiang University for Technology Pingfeng Cricket Field, on a flaky wicket affected by rain last week. India won the toss and opted to bat even though both semi-finals and the bronze medal match were won by the team chasing. They lost star opener Shafali Verma with the score on 16, but steadied to 35-1 at the end of the six-over power play where only two fielders are allowed outside the 30-metre circle. When Mandhana fell for 46 with the score on 89 in the 15th over, it sparked a succession of dismissals that stalled India's momentum when a testing total in excess of 130 had looked more likely. Rodrigues, who had been not out 47 and 20 in her two previous Asian Games outings, was finally dismissed in the last over for 42. "We had also struggled while batting on this pitch, so we thought we could defend this total," said Ghosh, who smashed a huge six in her cameo of nine off six balls. "The pitch was turning and holding up a little bit." Bangladesh took the bronze after restricting Pakistan to 64-9 and crawling to their target of 65 in 18.2 overs in their medal playoff. It meant Pakistan, who won the gold on both previous occasions that cricket was played in the Asian Games, return home empty-handed. "It's not a good feeling. We never got enough runs on the board," said Pakistan coach Mohtashim Rasheed. Elsewhere, world 100m breaststroke champion Qin Haiyang added the Asian Games title to his collection with the second-fastest swim this year. The Chinese star, also the 50m and 200m world champion, romped home in a new Games-record time of 57.76secs, with teammate Yan Zibei (59.09) taking silver and South Korea's Choi Dong-yeol (59.28) the bronze. China's Wang Xueer powered to the women's 50m backstroke gold on Monday, hitting the wall in 27.35secs. Wang, who finished seventh at the July world championships, held off teammate Wan Letian (27.41) and Japan's Miki Takahashi (28.21) to win the title.

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Filed Under: on Monday 25 September 2023

Pakistan’s 15 not a formidable combo for World Cup

With the announcement of Pakistan’s World Cup squad on Friday, it is significantly evident that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the national selectors and skipper Babar Azam have not learned their lessons from the recent Asia Cup debacle. The 2023 World Cup has a very challenging format, indeed, with each of the 10 teams playing each other before the semifinals. So only best of the best will emerge as the winner this time. The mega event that commences in India from October 5 is without a doubt the stiffest test of skipper Babar’s career and he ought to have gone in with the best, most balanced 15-member squad for the extravaganza. Alas, it is not to be. To begin with, Shadab Khan has been retained as the vice captain which defies all logic, especially after his abysmal faring in the Asia Cup matches. The all-rounder, who until 2020 was dubbed as the next best thing for Pakistan after the prolific Babar Azam, is merely a shadow of himself today. Though never a great turner of the ball, nor a front-ranking batsman, Shadab was instrumental in many limited over victories for his team as he broke vital partnerships and scored useful runs at crucial moments to see Pakistan through. Regrettably, he has not displayed any of that flair in the recent matches. And yet, by virtue of his position as the team’s vice captain and his camaraderie with skipper Babar, he has continued to play every game without making any impact of note. Reports coming out of Pakistan camp during the past few days led many to believe that Shadab will surely be replaced by Shaheen Shah Afridi as vice captain. However, for reasons best known to them, the selectors have retained Shadab as Babar’s deputy. Recalling the tried and failed Hasan Ali to fill in the shoes of injured Naseem Shah is another glaring move which reflects poorly on Chief Selector Inzamam-ul-Haq and his band of selectors. Hasan has been in and out of the team in all the three formats during the past few years, mainly due to his checkered performances that have earned the public ire besides scathing criticism from the former players. In his own admission, Hasan has not lived up to the promise he had shown in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy and is, at best, an average player whose erratic bowling and sloppy fielding could well prove to be a burden than a boost for the team. Most critics feel that the talented Zaman Khan or hardworking Arshad Iqbal deserved to be selected ahead of Hasan for the World Cup. Opener Fakhar Zaman’s 14 flop games on the trot have not shaken the selectors’ faith in him, which is extremely surprising, given the swift changes they tend to make in every series. No doubt Fakhar is a class player but has clearly struggled to find his feet in the recent games. He was all at sea against the medium pacers as well as the slow bowlers in the Asia Cup and it is a huge gamble to go with him for the mega event in India. Besides, both Wasim Jr and Salman Ali Agha are bits and pieces players who certainly donot possess the kind of firepower to turn a game around on their own. Mohammad Nawaz, too, have struggled to take his game to the next level which is a matter of concern for skipper Babar. In short, Pakistan’s lower middle-order desperately need to put its act together for the competitive extravaganza for Pakistan to fancy its chances of reaching the semifinals, at least. Perhaps, a specialist spinner like Abrar Ahmed would have served the team better as he has the ability to keep the batsmen guessing with his fine range of deliveries. However, one must commend the selectors for keeping faith with opener Abdullah Shafiq, gifted spinner Usama Mir and batsman Saud Shakeel as all of them are specialist players with proven credentials at the international level. In the final analysis, one would say that Pakistan’s is not a formidable combination at the moment, more so because they have not been able to upgrade their ODI cricket style as per the modern times. Given all these factors, Babar's men are certainly not among the favourites to lift the title. But the fact that they will be entering the World Cup as the underdogs augurs well for them. The history has it that whenever Pakistan gets the top billing, they fall short by quite a distance. However, whenever they are written off, they bounce back handsomely to stun the best in the business.

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Filed Under: on Friday 22 September 2023
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