Cricket in Commonwealth Games - Uninteresting history, long-delayed return and renaissance

With only a handful of cricketing powerhouses, the sport still has miles to cover to be at par with the likes of football, tennis and a few other truly global sports. Cricket at the global multi-sporting events has also been a very rare sight but this time around, intensifying its attempt to raise its reach and popularity among global audiences, cricket will be featured in the upcoming Commonwealth Games. After a wait of almost two and a half decades, cricket is all set to return to the Games with a women's T20 competition.

The International Cricket Council (ICC), the administrator of the lucrative sport, has been pressing hard for the sport's inclusion at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and the Birmingham Games are being considered as the perfect launchpad for the reintroduction of the game to the world audience. With the women's competition all set to get its first-ever feel of the multi-sporting event, TimesofIndia.com here gives you all you need to know about cricket @ CWG:

PTI PhotoHISTORYIn the last three decades or so, cricket has had an astronomical rise. An overabundance of cash flow, cricketers enjoying demi-god status and fans going berserk for their cricketing idols on the field as well as off it have been the norm. But this craze has been restricted to a select territory. Barring a handful of nations, cricket is still somewhat at a nascent stage around the world and one of the reasons for this has been its limited outreach in the past. A failure to be among the multi-sporting events has also restricted cricket from reaching its true potential. India's beloved sport has been part of the Olympics only once, way back in 1900, with only Great Britain and France participating. At the Commonwealth Games too, it