After extending their T20 dominance with back-to-back World Cup championships, captain Suryakumar Yadav stated that gold in 2028 on cricket’s return to the Olympics was India’s next major goal.
In the final in Ahmedabad on Sunday, co-hosts India crushed New Zealand by 96 runs to become the first team to win the T20 world championship three times.
Additionally, it was the first time a team had won the championship at home, and they achieved it with a style of aggressive, fearless cricket.
“It has been very special. And definitely the next goal is Olympics, Olympic gold and also the T20 World Cup that year,” AFP quoted Suryakumar as saying.
For the first time since 1900, cricket will compete in the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
Two years ago, India won the T20 World Cup in Barbados under the leadership of skipper Rohit Sharma, their first significant victory since the 2013 Champions Trophy.
Following the final match against South Africa, Rohit and fellow stalwart Virat Kohli quit T20Is and Suryakumar assumed captaincy.
“I think that drought ended in 2024 after a really long time and from there we never looked back,” said the 35-year-old. We played a different brand of cricket in 2024 and from there we understood how this team needs to work (going) forward. And it’s been a wonderful journey since then. We wanted to do something special in front of the home crowd. We want to continue doing that… and never stop,” Suryakumar added.
Under MS Dhoni, who guided the team to a T20 World Cup in the first edition in 2007, India won the 50-over World Cup at home in 2011. After that, by India’s extremely high standards, there was a comparative drought in ICC events.
Gautam Gambhir, a two-time World Cup winner who took over as coach from Rahul Dravid following the 2024 World Cup victory, wants to leave his own mark.
“I don’t believe in inheriting anything, I believe in creating something. And hopefully we’ve created something which probably all of you guys could be proud of, that the kind of brand of cricket we’ve played,” said Gambhir.
