The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 has been started, and we all now feel the competition’s craze. Here in this post, we will discuss the interesting fact about the tournament. So let’s join in the further section to know about the topic. The T20 WC is the Twenty20 International Cricket tournament, organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 2007.
The global event has generally been held every two years gap. Though the game started in 2007, there’s a multiple-year gap between 2016 and 2021 due to some reasons. After the 2016 edition of the T20 World Cup, ICC was interested in conducting the next edition in 2018 but it didn’t take place after the conclusion of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy. The 2020 editing didn’t happen due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but later it took place in 2021 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman.
Global Participation:
Till 2022, there have been eight seasons of the tournament so far and 21 teams participated in total. India won the inaugural season in 2007, by beating Pakistan in the final at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. In the next season of 2009, Pakistan defeated Srilanka in the final to lift the trophy. England won the 2010 season by beating Australia in the final. In 2012, when the T20 World Cup first time played in the subcontinent, West Indies was the champion.
In the following season of 2014, Srilanka was the champion by beating India in the final. West Indies lifted the trophy second time in history in 2016 when they beat England in the final. Australia beat New Zealand in the 2021 T20 WC final and won the trophy for the first time in history. In the last season of 2022, England defeated Pakistan in the final and their men’s team became the first team to hold both limited-overs World Cups (T20 and ODI) simultaneously.
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T20 World Cup History
The interest in the shortest format of the game started way back in 2002, in the Benson & Hedges Cup. When the people’s interest in the longer format was gradually going down, The England Cricket Board(ECB) proposed a shorter format of the game that would have 20-over per inning. Later on the English Domestic tournaments, the T20 format was gaining popularity. Thereafter the International cricket boards also felt interested in this format and conducted some events like the Stanford 20/20 tournament that happened in the West Indies.
With the gaining popularity in the T20 leagues, the International T20 matches have also started to play. In 2005, a bilateral match was played between Australia and New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland. This game was played very lightly and Australia beat New Zealand comprehensively in this match. Later in 2007, the inaugural season of the T20 WC occurred in South Africa. Earlier it was the plan that, the tournament would take place in two years gap, except the year when the ICC Cricket World Cup will be played. Kenya and Scotland qualified via the 2007 ICC World Cricket League Division.
16 teams were featured in the 2014 T20 World Cup including all ten full members and six associate members. The associate members qualified through the through the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. Three new teams (Nepal, Hong Kong, and the UAE) made their debut in this tournament. The tournament later on expanded to 20 teams from the 2024 edition and is projected for the same in the upcoming seasons also. The United States will host the T20 World Cup for the first time in history in 2024. According to the ICC future tour program, the 2026 edition will be played in India and Sri Lanka jointly. The 2028 edition will be played in Australia and New Zealand, as well as the 2030 tournament in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland following.
T20 World Cup Format
The hosts of the ICC event are decided by the voting system between the nations who are interested in organizing the tournament. After South Africa in 2007, the tournament was hosted by England in 2009, the West Indies in 2010, and Sri Lanka in 2012. Bangladesh hosted the tournament in 2014. India hosted the tournament in 2016. After a five-year break, India won the hosting rights for the 2021 edition, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the matches were held in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The 2022 edition was hosted by Australia, which won the tournament the previous year.
ICC full members and the test playing nations are automatically qualified in the tournament. The associate members have to qualify through the T20 World Cup qualifier tournament. Kenya and Scotland were the first two associate teams to qualify for the tournament. And in the subsequent season, more associated countries participated in the competition.
In the final tournament, there will be group-stage games in each season. The top teams from each of the groups will qualify for the knockout stage. The team that secures the highest point in the group stage will directly qualify for the subsequent rounds, whereas in case of the same points the team having a better net run rate will qualify. In case of a tie in the match, the result was decided by a super over game and subsequent super overs to decide the winner.
All Editions of the Tournament
Here are the following seasons of the ICC T20 World Cup that took place
| Year | Host(s) | Winner | Runner-up | Teams |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | South Africa | India | Pakistan | 12 |
| 2009 | England | Pakistan | Sri Lanka | 12 |
| 2010 | West Indies | England | Australia | 12 |
| 2012 | Sri Lanka | West Indies | Sri Lanka | 12 |
| 2014 | Bangladesh | Sri Lanka | India | 16 |
| 2016 | India | West Indies | England | 16 |
| 2021 | UAE/Oman | Australia | New Zealand | 16 |
| 2022 | Australia | England | Pakistan | 16 |
Recent ICC Men’s T20 World Cup
The most recent tournament is the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 is occurring in the West Indies and USA.