India unlikely to send cricket teams in Hangzhou Asian Games owing to existing commitments

Categories: IPL 2022

                                      Cricket will make a comeback at the Asian Games in Hangzhou later this year but India, the game's financial engine, is unlikely to field teams owing to existing commitments.Few expected India's men's team to compete in the September Games risking injury to the players ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia from Oct. 16.The Games coincides with the women team's limited-overs tour of England where they are scheduled to play three one-dayers and an equal number of Twenty20 Internationals.

                                     Hosting India is a lucrative proposition for any board and Shah said honouring bilateral commitment was particularly important in a post-coronavirus world."The BCCI has always stood by member boards and helped them in these difficult times," Shah said."The FTP that has been created needs to be adhered to," he said referring to the game`s Future Tours Programme calendar.

                                    The reluctance of the BCCI, the world's richest cricket board, was seen as a major impediment to the game`s Olympic inclusion.But a change in BCCI's stance has emboldened the governing International Cricket Council's push for cricket`s inclusion in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles."The BCCI and ICC are on the same page on this and agree that the inclusion of cricket in the Olympics is good for the growth of the game," added Shah.