From T20 to Tinseltown: Bharat Sundaresan names his Australian T20 side to chase gold at 2028 LA Olympics

In this era of huge rewards at T20 levels, representing your country at the Olympics will have very little to do with any financial gains for a cricketer and everything to do with wanting to experience the Olympic spirit.

T20 Cricket will be one of the big inclusions into the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028.

You don’t necessarily have had to been under a rock to have missed seeing Steve Smith lift his first T20 title as captain in over a dozen years. Blame it on the footy season or even more relevantly on the Olympics. Just for the record, around the time Smith was busy leading Washington Freedom to their first Major League Cricket (MLC) title in Dallas, Australia was busy celebrating Jess Fox winning her first gold medal in Paris.

Smith not only played an integral role in Washington’s victory with his leadership skills but was also their joint run-getter with 336 runs at an excellent strike-rate of 148.67. Numbers that might have, in hindsight, made him a good fit for Australia’s T20 World Cup squad. The one he was left out of in the Caribbean.

Smith was asked about his future in the shortest format upon his return to Australia last week. And while keen on getting back into the IPL mix, he sounded rather noncommittal about his future with the Australian team as a T20I player. Ironically, one of the other questions asked was about whether he could pull through for another four years and aim for gold at the Los Angeles Olympics when cricket makes its long-awaited comeback.

His response? “Never say never,” with a slight smile on his face.

Steve Smith is unlikely to feature in Australia’s maiden campaign at Olympic gold.

A couple of days later, at the launch of the BBL season, the former captain went a step further when saying, “Would be cool to be part of an Olympics.” This while hinting he might well be playing only T20 cricket come 2028.

The premier batter will be 39 by the time the flame is lit in LA. He’d surely have hung up his whites by then, with his ODI jumper alongside it. Even if he’s in rare air with regards to having already won every world title there is, the incentive of how “cool” it would be to call himself an Olympian should be strong enough for him to be keen on extending his career. He won’t be the only one, either. Only last week, James Anderson spoke about wanting to give the T20 league circuit a go, and who can rule out the ageless swing bowler from returning to England colours in Los Angeles at the ripe age of 46.

It does make you wonder, though. Could the prospect of living out every athlete’s potential dream of standing atop the podium at an Olympic Games achieve what the traditional ecosystem of international cricket is rapidly failing to do? By which I mean hanging on to their top stars for longer. That, too, in an ever-changing economy where we not only have franchise leagues emerging everywhere but also are seeing the cash up for grabs for players burgeoning with every passing year.

You’d think it’ll surely be a bigger factor for players from teams outside India, Australia, and England, who, unlike these more-prosperous cricketing nations, struggle to stay fully committed to their respective boards. And representing your country at the Olympics will have very little to do with any financial gains for a cricketer. Anything but, you’d think. But there will be more priceless perks to go with it.

Let’s face it, the only time the entire country rallies around the Australian men’s cricket team as passionately and fervently as it does its Olympians is probably during the Ashes. Or maybe when they are in a World Cup final in the most hostile setting possible, such as the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad last year. Even for a team as successful as this, it would be quite an

experience to have millions battling sleep to cheer them on from thousands of kilometres away.

Jake Fraser-McGurk is set to be the crown jewel for the 2028 side.

So who should we expect to see in Team Australia for the six-nation T20 event expected to make its debut in LA? For starters, it will be perfectly sandwiched between the 21st edition of the IPL and the 2028 edition of the T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Australia. So, you’d expect all players to be available for selection.

Although he’s unlikely to have Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood by his side, Pat Cummins would have just completed his multiple-year commitment with the San Francisco Unicorns in the MLC and be only an hour’s flight away from joining his teammates in LA. Surely you’d have him as one of the flagbearers for Australia in the opening ceremony, too. At 35, he might still have another home Ashes series left in him, too, even if it’s likely he’s no longer captain. Considering how spoilt Australia are in terms of their fast-bowling talent, there should be no dearth of options to partner Cummins.

Travis Head and Jake Fraser-McGurk will be Australia’s destructive opening pair, of course. Fraser-McGurk by then would have become the poster boy of the team, alongside being potentially the highest-paid T20 cricketer in Australia. The MLC, you’d imagine, would have gone by then.

Cameron Green, who’d have taken over the captaincy across formats, would just have come of age at 29 and be on top of his all-round game. Fellow Western Australian Aaron Hardie would be the perfect foil alongside Tim David, who, like he is now, should be at the forefront of the next phase of power-hitting in T20 cricket.

Corey Rocchiccioli could be a wildcard with the ball.

Also expect to see Cooper Connolly right in the mix, having matured even further as the finisher in the middle-order. Incidentally, I saw him only last week throwing himself and his blond locks around on a hot day in Chennai (India) as part of an Australian Academy team on a learning-curve tour at the MRF Pace Foundation under the watchful eyes of current selector Tony Dodemaide. Another talented Western Australian that caught my eye there was off-spinner Corey Rocchiccioli, who I can totally see becoming a multi-format lead spinner for Australia by 2028.

As a pioneer of the shortest format, Glenn Maxwell is one player among the current lot of seniors that I believe is the likeliest to extend his career long enough to finish it on a high at the Olympics. He might have mentioned it in passing as well.

“Absolutely, it’s another opportunity to represent your country on the world stage,” is how outgoing Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley had put it when cricket’s return to the Olympic fold after 128 years in the wilderness was made official. But like Smith said last week, it’s a bit more than that. It’s about being able to call yourself an Olympian. And he won’t be the last cricketer to go, “never say never” till the time they think achieving that ultimate honour is not completely out of reach.

MY OLYMPICS XI FOR LA 2028

1. Travis Head

2. Jake Fraser-McGurk

3. Glenn Maxwell

4. Cameron Green (c)

5. Josh Inglis (wk)

6. Tim David

7. Cooper Connolly

8. Pat Cummins

9. Corey Rocchioccioli

10. Xavier Bartlett

11. Spencer Johnson