PCB reconsiders cricket’s inclusion in Asiad

KARACHI: When cricket was chosen as a medal sport by the organisers of the Asian Games back in 2010, Pakistan’s cricket chiefs gave the move a lukewarm response.

The country fielded a third string team with top-order batsmen — Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif — being its most prominent members. Then neither of the two players, who are these days the chief suspects of Pakistan Super League (PSL) spot-fixing scandal, was a household name.

Pakistan paid the price for it and suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Afghanistan in the semifinals of the men’s cricket event at the Guanggong International Cricket Stadium on November 25, 2010. It was a stunning defeat following which Pakistan had to settle with a consolation bronze medal. In contrast, Pakistan’s women’s team won the gold medal of the Guangzhou Asiad, thrashing Bangladesh by ten wickets in the final.

Pakistan decided against sending their cricket team for the next edition of the Asian Games held in Incheon, South Korea. With India also giving the thumbs down to cricket’s inclusion in Asia’s biggest sporting spectacle, cricket’s Asian Games fate looks bleak despite the fact that it has been retained for next year’s edition.

However, it seems that Pakistan’s cricket authorities are having second thoughts about it.‘The News’ has learnt that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has approached the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) in a bid to get cricket retained in next year’s Asian Games to be held in Jakarta and the South Sumatran city of Palembang.

General Arif Hasan, President POA, has confirmed that the PCB has sought the Olympic association’s help to keep cricket as a medal sport in the Asian Games.

“The Board has approached us about retaining cricket at Asian Games 2018 as a medal sport,” Hasan told ‘The News’ on Monday. “We will certainly like to give whatever support we can in this regard,” he added.

The POA chief is expected to meet PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan sometimes later this week to discuss the issue.However, Hasan said that the chances of cricket retaining its place in the Asian Games can only brighten up if top-flier teams like Pakistan are willing to send reasonably good teams to the event.

“At the end of the day, fans come to the stadiums to see stars. Cricket can be a popular discipline in multi-nation events like the Asian Games only if top teams second their good players to represent them,” he said.

Even if Pakistan and several other cricket-playing nations of Asia agree to send their leading players to Indonesia, there is a major hurdle for cricket in the Asian Games 2018 in the form of a lack of infra-structure.

At the moment there aren’t any cricket stadiums that can meet international standards in Jakarta or Palembang and that could be a big stumbling block in the way cricket’s inclusion in the Asian Games.

Pakistan, according to Hasan, are willing to help.“The PCB has hinted that it can provide support in any efforts to prepare the required facilities for hosting a cricket event at next year’s Asian Games in Indonesia,” the POA chief said.

After the lukewarm response it received in China and South Korea, cricket was not included on a list of six non-Olympic sports proposed for inclusion by the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI) in 2015.

But last month, Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) confirmed that 42 sports and 484 events will be contested at the 2018 Asian Games to be held from August 18 and September 2. Cricket was one of them.

Meanwhile, cricket could return to Olympics for the first time in 124 years as the International Cricket Council (ICC) has recently announced that the majority of its members are supporting the idea of applying to the International Olympic Committee for the sport to be included in the 2024 Games. ICC is likely to submit an application for the 2024 Olympics later this year. A Twenty20 tournament featuring six to eight teams is the most likely format for the Olympics.