T20 franchise leagues like the European T20 Premier League (ETPL) will play a key role in cricket becoming a "serious global" sport at the Olympics. That is the view of former India allrounder R Ashwin, who was recently appointed captain-cum-mentor at Dublin Guardians, one of the six ETPL franchises.
"Look, I think there's an Olympics that's going to happen in a couple of years," Ashwin said. Cricket will be part of the LA Olympics in 2028, the first time since 1900 that it will be played at the competition. "If cricket as a game is pretty serious about making it a global affair, I think the teams in this league will play a very crucial part in enabling that. So as far as I'm concerned, this is a really, really exciting prospect where we not only believe that we can pick a team and do well in this tournament, but also make it a really good place for these players to come in and get better and also have a lasting impact on the tournament.
"We also believe that we… owe it to the Dublin franchise and also, Irish cricket, in many ways - to try and enable them, try and probably provide them with the right amount of exposure and opportunities. It is really about them - about the Scottish players, about the Dutch players, and about the Irish players. We want to make it about them."
Ashwin also advocated for T20 cricket as the way forward for the sport: "If the game has to become global and it has to become an Olympic sport, the shorter the game, the more viable it is," he said. "And that's how it's going to become much bigger. And you will see a better sample size of players, which is also very critical for several of these leagues which run through the year. T20 as a sport is here to stay. I'm not too sure about ODI cricket."
Ashwin wasn't surprised by T20 world champions India's recent 2-0 defeat to Ireland in Belfast. "Look, I think cricket as a whole needs to be learned in a way that you get better every single day. You should be able to adapt," Ashwin said. "The name of the game is adaptation, which is why what happened recently between India and Ireland in that T20 series is a classic example of how conditions can eliminate a lot of aspects of the game that have been developed as a root cause of T20 as a sport."
According to Ashwin, adapting to the conditions will be key at the ETPL, which will be held in venues across Ireland, Scotland and Netherlands, countries where players from the Full Members rarely get to play.