After T20 World Cup triumph, India eye Olympic gold in cricket's shortest format

Following historic back-to-back T20 World Cup victories, Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav has set his sights on an even bigger prize- not just another World Cup in 2028, but also a historic Olympic gold.

Cricket will return to the Olympics after 128 years at the 2028 Summer Olympics, and India- fresh from their World Cup triumph- has nothing less than gold on their minds for the Los Angeles Games, which is two years from now. 

"Definitely the next goal is the Olympics- an Olympic gold- and also the T20 World Cup that year. Don't forget," Suryakumar told the media after India defeated New Zealand in Sunday's final.

The 35-year-old said the team has been on a roller-coaster ride since 2024, winning three International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments during this period. "Obviously very excited with the way things have gone since 2024. The way we've played- we won three ICC trophies in a row, including the ODI Champions Trophy," he said.

India had endured a long drought in global tournaments before that. From 2013 to 2024, the team failed to win a major ICC trophy until the title run ended in 2024 when the Rohit Sharma-led side lifted the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup held in the United States and the West Indies. "I think that drought ended in 2024 after a really long time and from there we never looked back. We knew how we wanted to play going forward. Everything changed after 2024," Suryakumar added.

The Indian captain, now primarily a one-format player, said the team aims to extend its dominance in T20 cricket in the coming years, with Olympic gold emerging as a new target. "We won the ICC Champions Trophy in 2025 under Rohit Sharma, played a completely different brand of cricket, and now in 2026 we wanted to do something special in front of our home crowd. We want to continue doing that in 2027, 2028, 2029 and never stop," he said.

However, only six teams will compete in both the men's and women's cricket events at the Los Angeles Olympics. The ICC and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are yet to finalise the qualification criteria. Even after that is decided, qualifying for the Games will require teams to maintain consistent dominance- a challenging task for the Indian side whose average age is now around 30.

Cricket's only previous appearance at the Olympics came at the 1900 Paris Olympics, where just two teams- Great Britain and France- competed in a one-off two-day match that is now recognised as an unofficial Test. Great Britain won the gold medal.

The women's cricket event will begin on July 12, 2028, with the final scheduled for July 20. The men's competition will start on July 22 and conclude with the gold medal match on July 29. All cricket matches at the Los Angeles Olympics will be played at a temporary, purpose-built venue at the Fairplex Pomona, located about 50 kilometres from Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Olympics are scheduled to begin on July 14, 2028, and conclude on July 30. For India, which has historically had limited success at the Summer Games, the return of cricket presents a rare opportunity, and perhaps even the chance to claim two Olympic gold medals in a sport the country dominates on the global stage.