Former Australian vice-captain Adam Gilchrist and Sri Lankan star Kumar Sangakkara will tell cricket's powerbrokers today the sport's future growth is tied to the Olympics.
Gilchrist and the Sri Lankan vice-captain will appear in a video message at a meeting of chief executives from the 10 leading cricket nations in Dubai.
Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland and his Ireland counterpart Warren Deutrom will attend the meeting and add their weight to the push.
"The entire 1.5 billion (population) of the Asian cricket-playing countries have been galvanised and they have been enthused by the new format," Sangakkara says in the video presentation.
"I don't think the final credibility of being accepted as a truly global sport will be reached until we embrace this Olympic concept.
"It's our responsibility as players and administrators ... to try to push for that recognition and the only way I see we can achieve that is to be recognised as an Olympic sport.
"The Olympics is the ultimate goal, the ultimate competition and the ultimate testing ground." The success of the Twenty20 game continues to grow with plans already underway for next year's T20 Champions League, before this year's inaugural event has even been held.
The second edition of the T20 Champions League is to be held in September and October 2009, most likely in India.
The inaugural eight-team T20 Champions League, with a six-million-dollar purse, is due to take place from December 3 to 10 this year at a venue yet to be determined.
The top two teams of the domestic T20 competitions in India, Australia and South Africa and one side each from England and Pakistan will compete.
Australian captain Ricky Ponting, ex-skipper Steve Waugh and South African captain Graeme Smith as well as India's Sourav Ganguly are among those supporting the Olympic push.
Gilchrist and Sangakkara hope to win the support of the chief executives in an attempt to convince the ICC executive board to take the idea to the International Olympic Committee next year in a bid to get cricket included in 2013 for the 2020 Olympics.
Gilchrist, a three-time World Cup winner who has a massive profile in India, kick-started the campaign with a column in the Deccan Herald arguing that the growing Twenty20 game would be perfect for the Olympics.
"We have the perfect product for the Olympic movement and being part of the Olympic movement will allow us to target over 200 countries around the world," Gilchrist says in the video.
