Why Cricket isn't been included in Olympics ?

Manoj Badale, the owner of Rajasthan Royals and Simon Hughes, Former English Cricketer have recently written a book named " A New Innings " which was recently launched by Rahul Dravid, Former Indian Cricketer and current Director of National Cricket Academy ( NCA ). In this book launch, Rahul Dravid have discussed the possibilities of cricket finding a place in Olympics event. Also, on the other hand, International Cricket Council ( ICC ) have been working so hard to add cricket in Olympics, and their prime target is 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. The main million dollar question coming in our mind is that, "Why Cricket hasn't been a part of Olympics ?"

Cricket has been a part of Olympics, only once !. It was during 1896 Olympics event, where cricket was included. But, during that tournament, only France and United Kingdom ( England ) have gave entries for cricket. The game was played and during which England defeated France by 158 runs. During 1900 Olympics, four two nations named Holland and Belgium, gave their names for cricket, but they withdrew due to their co hosting bids getting turned down. Hence, at first due to very minimal entries, the game was cancelled from Olympics.

You might get another question, " Is this the only reason to cancel cricket, as in recent days there are many nations actively participating in cricket ? ". Basically, cricket has been a great sport, which has over a billion number of people supporting and praising the game. But, the true fact is only 105 nations are actively participating in cricket with only 10-15 teams have gained Test Match Status. Remaining of them have shown keen interest, but were in limelight due to being in a position called ICC's Associate Nations.  So, still it isn't a global sport. 

Also, the main motto of Olympics is " Citius, Altius, Fortius ", ( meaning Faster, Higher , Stronger ).  The format of cricket is a bit longer. Okay, if we think of 20 overs format, this version too consumes 4 hrs of play, which other sports didn't take much time. Other than this, wherever the match is held, the pitches are needed to be prepared separately, which most of the countries, won't play cricket by creating quality wickets. 

In cricket, only the sporting bodies, along with International Cricket Council ( ICC ). look up into the matters, whereas on the basis of other sports, the Governments of respective nations, interfere in the internal matters, which won't be much suitable for cricket. Recently, Zimbabwe and South African cricket nations are facing threats, as their governmental bodies, poked their fingers in cricketing matters.

ICC have been continuing to push its step towards a place in Olympics. Recently, it had asked all of its full member nations to report of potential benefits and losses by pressing their foot. Cricket's main three nations India, England and Australia have said that, by going into the Olympics, the least are the boons while the most are the losses, as the main reason is they have a packed schedule calendar. Also, leaving bilateral series would leave them out of pocket, as most of cricketing activities are dependant on these home - away series. Another thing is, will Olympic organisations of respective nations, come up supporting the game as before ? 

But, Rahul Dravid said that, if preparing the pitches and making the format shorter possible, then why can't the game can be added. Also, in the book function, he and along with Manoj Badale and Andrew Wildblood, the chief architect of planning Indian Premier League ( IPL ) have said that " Why wouldn't you want to be a part of arguably the the biggest sporting event ? ". Manoj Badale, particularly pointed out that, "For me, the executive function of any sport should be to broaden the appeal. If you broaden its appeal, you broaden its reach. That means more kids get to experience what you and I think is the best game in the world. It means more people get to see what you and I think is the best game in the world".

So, if cricket gets a place in Olympics, then this game will definitely be one of the top global sports just like Football and Tennis. Now, the main agenda which ICC needed to focus is to increase its number of Full Members, and also increase the list of nations participating in the ICC Tournaments, giving a mild chance for Associate nations to showcase their talents in the spotlight.