Indian women’s cricket team batter Jemimah Rodrigues expressed her excitement about representing her country at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Cricket will return to the Olympics for the first time since 1900 when a two-day match took place between teams from Great Britain and France in Paris. Great Britain won the match by 158 runs.
At the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, cricket will be played in the T20 format for both men and women.
In a post on Instagram, Jemimah wrote, “Loved wearing the current Indian Olympic jersey. Can’t wait to play cricket for India at the Olympics soon! Man, what a feeling that’d be. Also our Indian athletes have shown tremendous passion, commitment, persistence and grit! Win or lose, we’re proud of you.”
Meanwhile, Australian cricket legend Ricky Ponting, a three-time ODI World Cup winner, believes that cricket’s inclusion in the Olympics will allow the sport to reach audiences across the world and elevate its popularity.
“It can only be a positive thing for our game. I have sat on various committees over the last 15 or 20 years and it has always been on the top of almost every agenda – how do we get the game back into the Olympics? And finally, it is there,” Ponting told The ICC Review as quoted by Olympics.com.
Cricket was one of five additional sports that was proposed by the LA28 Organising Committee before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially confirmed its inclusion last year.
“The Olympic Games being viewed by so many people all around the world, it just opens up completely different audiences to our game which is seemingly growing on a daily basis anyway,” Ponting said.
“Facilities and infrastructure and those things are going to be key and how many teams they decide on. I’m really excited about where the game’s headed and the growth of different markets that we’re seeing emerge.”
Ponting was also part of the Australian team when cricket made its debut at the Commonwealth Games in 1998.