Ponting backs Olympic proposal

Ricky Ponting is embracing the idea of cricket as an Olympic sport in the future

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Australia captain Ricky Ponting has backed the calls of former team-mate Adam Gilchrist and believes it is only a matter of time before cricket is included as an Olympic sport.

Support for the sport to be included at the Games has grown recently following the rising popularity of Twenty20 cricket, especially on the sub-continent.

Last month former Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Gilchrist threw his weight behind the idea, with the 2020 Games touted as the earliest possible introduction.

"I think it's inevitable Twenty20 will be an Olympic sport," Ponting said at a dinner marking the centenary of the birth of Sir Donald Bradman.

"The International Olympic Committee could do a lot worse than put cricket into the Olympics. Just think about the audiences in the sub-continent.

“You think about the audiences in the subcontinent - 22 or 23% of the world's population is based in that area.”