The script that earned T20 cricket a place at the 2028 Los Angeles Games

David Warner pulling the ball away, Jasprit Bumrah leaping in celebration, an acrobatic catch at the boundary. These visuals were all part of a video presentation at the IOC Session here made to introduce cricket as one of the five new proposed sports for the 2028 Olympics.

- Rutvick Mehta

"Easy one to pitch," Niccolo Campriani, the threetime Olympic gold medallist Italian shooter who is now the sports director of the Los Angeles Games, said on stage.

On that stage stood a panel representing the LA Games along with US ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti - which spoke of the "fast and appealing" T20 format for the Olympics, catering to an "estimated 2.5 billion fans worldwide of the sport" and highlighted Virat Kohli as the "third most followed athlete in the world" on Instagram.

And with those dynamics in play, cricket will officially be part of the Olympics after a century. T20 cricket, along with squash, baseball/softball, flag football and lacrosse passed the vote and the final step to make it to the Los Angeles Games in five years' time. Going under voting at the IOC Session here as a package, the five sports received a big majority with just two members against its inclusion in the 2028 Olympics. There were questions - like the one on cricket not having enough global representation in terms of national federations - but no roadblocks.