Cricket will return to the Olympics after more than a century, and the International Cricket Council (ICC) has finalized how the six participating teams will be selected for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. During a recent board meeting in Dubai on Friday, cricket’s global body confirmed that six teams each in the men’s and women’s categories will take part in cricket’s first appearance at the Games since the 1900 Paris Olympics. The ICC discussed possible arrangements and the original idea of only the top six teams in the ICC T20I rankings was scrapped. Now, the top team from each region/continent will compete and the sixth team will go through the global selection.“Discussions were held regarding the entry of the teams and it was decided that six teams would advance through the highest ranked team from each region/continent and the sixth from the global qualifiers. The details will be announced by the ICC in due course, but the road map is more or less frozen,” says a veteran administrator who attended the meeting in Dubai.The schedule means that each top seed from each continent/region will enter the top five teams. Essentially, this means that based on the current rankings, India qualifies from Asia, Australia from Oceania, England from Europe, South Africa from Africa, and it will be interesting to see if the USA – given they are the hosts – qualify from America or the West Indies. The details of the global qualifying tournament are likely to be announced soon by the world cricket body.There may be a strong possibility that India vs Pakistan will not be contested at LA28 as the details of the global qualifier are still unknown. In a detailed statement after the meeting, the ICC mentioned the success of women’s cricket and also shared information about the LA28 Games.“The ICC Board reviewed the ICC’s continued engagement with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 (LA28) as cricket deepens its presence in the global multi-sport landscape. The LA28 will feature six teams each in the men’s and women’s T20 competitions, for a total of 28 matches,” said a media release.
