Following back-to-back T20 World Cup victories, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav has targeted an Olympic gold medal in cricket at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. The team, fresh from defeating New Zealand in the 2026 final, reflects on its recent successes in ICC tournaments. Yadav emphasized maintaining dominance leading up to the Olympics.
Indian cricket's recent triumphs have set ambitious goals beyond traditional ICC events. After securing the 2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup title by defeating New Zealand in the final, captain Suryakumar Yadav outlined the next objectives. "Definitely the next goal is the Olympics—an Olympic gold—and also the T20 World Cup that year. Don't forget," he told media after the match.
The team has won three major ICC trophies since 2024, ending a drought that lasted from 2013. The 2024 T20 World Cup, held in the United States and West Indies under Rohit Sharma, marked the breakthrough. This was followed by the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, also led by Sharma. Yadav, now 35 and focusing on T20 cricket, noted the shift in approach post-2024. "I think that drought ended in 2024 after a really long time and from there we never looked back. We knew how we wanted to play going forward. Everything changed after 2024," he said.
Cricket returns to the Olympics in 2028 after 128 years, since its only prior appearance at the 1900 Paris Games where Great Britain claimed gold in an unofficial Test against France. The Los Angeles Games will feature six teams each in men's and women's T20 events, with qualification criteria still pending from the ICC and IOC. Matches will occur at a temporary venue in Fairplex Pomona, about 50 kilometers from Los Angeles.
The women's competition runs from July 12 to 20, 2028, and the men's from July 22 to 29, within the overall Olympics schedule of July 14 to 30. For India, with an average team age around 30, sustaining form will be key to qualifying and contending for gold in a sport where the nation excels globally. Yadav expressed confidence in continued success through 2027, 2028, and beyond, aiming to extend the current brand of play.
