Explained: How cricket teams will qualify for Los Angeles 2028 Olympics and why uncertainty looms over a possible India vs Pakistan clash

Cricket is all set to make a comeback at the Olympics in the upcoming edition of the Games, which will be hosted by Los Angeles in 2028. The gentlemen’s game is returning to the Olympic stage after more than a century, having last been played at the Paris Games in 1900. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has now finalised how the six men’s and six women’s teams will qualify for the event.

During the recent ICC Board meeting in Dubai, the cricketing governing body confirmed that each region or continent will have a chance to send one team to the Olympics. The sixth and final spot will be decided through a global qualifying tournament.

Team's qualification scenario for the Olympics

Earlier, the ICC had planned to include only the top six teams from the ICC T20I rankings, but that idea has now been dropped. The new qualification system is designed to give teams from all parts of the world a fair opportunity to compete in cricket’s historic return to the Olympic stage.

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"There have been discussions around the participation of teams, and it has been decided that the six teams will come through the top-ranked team from each region/continent, while the sixth comes from the global qualifier. The details will be shared by the ICC in due course, but the roadmap has more or less been frozen," says a veteran administrator who was part of the meeting in Dubai as quoted by TOI.

This means that, based on current rankings, India qualifies from Asia, Australia from Oceania, England from Europe, and South Africa from Africa. It will be interesting to see whether the USA, as hosts, or the Americas or the West Indies would take the spot. The details of the global qualifier are likely to be shared by the global cricket body soon.

Will India face Pakistan in the LA28 Olympics?

However, there are chances that India and Pakistan will not face each other in LA28, as the details of the global qualifier are still unknown. In the detailed statement after the meeting, the ICC mentioned the success of women's cricket and also shared an update on the LA28 Games.

"The Board reviewed the ICC’s ongoing engagement with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games (LA28), as cricket deepens its footprint in the global multisport landscape. At LA28, both the men’s and women’s T20 events will feature six teams each, comprising 28 matches in total," said ICC in a media release.