ICC chair Jay Shah has used Olympic Day to underline cricket’s global reach, with the sport’s return to the Olympic programme at LA28 now an increasingly important part of its international growth story.
Shah marked International Olympic Day on Tuesday, 23 June, by backing the IOC’s wider push around health, community and participation through sport. His message was timely because cricket is moving toward its first Olympic appearance since 1900, with T20 cricket set to be part of the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
The ICC chair said cricket can unite, inspire and empower at major scale, according to a fresh report from the Times of India. That line matters because Olympic status is not just symbolic for cricket; it is a route into new markets, government support and a broader sporting audience beyond the traditional full-member nations.
Why Shah’s Olympic message matters for cricket
The immediate news is a public statement, but the bigger context is LA28. Cricket’s Olympic return gives the ICC a platform to sell the short-format game as a global participation sport, not simply a broadcast product driven by a handful of major markets.
For Shah, the challenge is to turn that message into visible planning over the next two years. Olympic cricket will be judged not only by its star names, but by whether the ICC can make the event feel genuinely global when the sport steps back onto the Games stage in Los Angeles.
