Ponting bats for T20 in Olympics
Two-time and current ICC Cricket World Cup-winning Australian captain Ricky Ponting has joined the movement to ensure that Twenty20 cricket is included in the Olympics programme in time for the 2020 Games.
Ponting admits his career as an international player will be over by then (2020) but it has not stopped him visualising an experience he believes could become a reality for those who succeed him in Australia and elsewhere.
Reverberating the sentiments of current and former cricketers from around the world, Ponting expressed wish to participate in the Olympics. "With the explosion of the short and exciting Twenty20 over the past year, particularly in India, cricket now has the perfect vehicle to be part of the Games," he said in his column in ‘The Australian.’
Ponting has toured the subcontinent on numerous occasions and says that the excitement observed among the crowds there is very high and by including it in the Olympics it will add to the excitment. "Where we play on the Indian subcontinent there are 1 1/2 billion people, more than 20 per cent of the world's population, and having toured there a lot I can tell you that most of them love cricket.”
He also cited the example of hockey, which wasn’t a popular sport in countries like China and South Korea, but they quickly embraced it. “Countries such as China and South Korea didn't have national hockey teams to speak of a couple of decades ago and now China is a medal chance in both men's and women's at these Games.”
Ponting feels that like hockey, the game of cricket too can gain prominence. “If cricket had a similar impact in China or the United States, with the population those countries have behind them, many years down the track they could be playing off for medals in cricket as well.”
"The fact that teams from Australia or India or China or the US could be playing cricket in the Olympic Games is an awesome thought," he added.
The Tasmanian further asserted that sharing the same environment with other athletes from different disiplines will help cricketers learn more about intense training and preparation methods. “They have so much training and preparation for what in some cases can be one moment every four years. Just imagine how much greater the experience would be for cricketers to be part of the Olympics.”
