Twenty20

Twenty20 World Cup Origin

The origin of Twenty20 Cricket can be traced back to late 1990s, when the T20 Cup was launched by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

Twenty20 is one of the latest forms of the cricket game, with origin that can be traced back to the late 1990s and early 2000s. A shortened format of cricket, meant to be played at the professional level, T20 took birth in the form of an idea, which was discussed by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 1998 and then again, in 2001. However, the idea started taking a concrete shape only in the year 2001. As the Benson & Hedges Cup (B&H Cup) was coming to an end, ECB felt the need for another one-day competition, as a replacement.

It was Stuart Robertson, the marketing manager of the ECB, who came up with the proposal for a 40-over game, with 20 overs per innings. He presented the concept formally in 2001, to the county chairmen. Apart from filling the space that would be emptied by culmination of B&H Cup, the new form of cricket also looked to be the perfect way to boost the game's popularity. It seemed to be the best option to win back the interest of the younger generation and thus, the declining sponsorship.

The 20-over innings was conceived with the aim of providing a new, stimulating form of cricket, which could hook the thousands of fans that had been put off by the longer versions. After the proposal of Stuart Robertson, the county voted and the votes were 11-7, 11 in favor and 7 against the new game. After Stuart�s proposal was accepted, a media group was asked to think upon a suitable name for the game. Not much time later, Twenty20 became the name of the new cricket format, afterwards abridged as T20 cricket.

It has been claimed that a format similar to Twenty20 was conceived by Dr George Christos, a mathematician from Perth, Western Australia. He even alleges that he presented it before the ICC and ECB in 1997. However, no credit was given to him when T20 was made public, as ICC dismissed his involvement in developing the final concept. The formal introduction of T20 Cricket took place in 2003, when ECB launched the Twenty20 Cup, along with slogan �I don�t like cricket, I love it�

To explore the history of ICC Twenty20 World Cup, you will have to delve into the history of T20 cricket, both of which you will get in this article.

Twenty20 World Cup History

The period lasting from the year 1998 to 2001 was can be traced back as the time of origin of Twenty20 cricket. However, it was in the year 2001 that the idea of a shortened form of cricket, earlier discussed by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), began to take a concrete shape. The concept of 40-over game, with 20 overs per innings, was presented to the county chairman in the same year and later, passed with a voting of 11-7, 11 in favor and 7 against. Soon, the new form of cricket was given the name of Twenty20, more popularly T20.

T20 Cricket was formally introduced to the world in 2003, when ECB launched the Twenty20 Cup, along with slogan “I don’t like cricket, I love it”. The same year, the first Twenty20 cricket tournament was organized in England, with various county cricket teams. The tournament proved to be a success, with thousands of spectators filling the England’s cricket stadiums, a first in many decades. Soon, other cricket playing nations of the world also started to take notice of Twenty20 cricket.

Soon after the first Twenty20 cricket tournament was played and became overnight success, South Africa, Australia and the West Indies also organized similar tournaments, which again attracted huge cricket audience. In the year 2005, history was created, when Twenty20 cricket made its international debut, with the first T20 International being played, between Australia and New Zealand, at Eden Park. As the popularity of the new form of cricket started rising, surpassing that of even ODIs and Tests, the game was taken more seriously.

By 2007, the popularity of Twenty20 had gained such heights that ICC organized the first international Twenty20 tournament, rather the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup, creating another history of sorts. With South Africa as the host, the tournament included 10 test playing nations, apart from ICC associate nations - Kenya and Scotland. India won the first ICC T20 World Cup, beating Pakistan in the finals. Now, the second ICC Twenty20 World Cup has been scheduled to start in June 2009, with England as the host and 9 test playing nations (excluding Zimbabwe), Scotland and debutants Ireland and the Netherlands as the teams.

Twenty20 World Cup Rules

Twenty20 cricket was introduced in England in the year 2003. The rules and format of a T20 cricket match are different from a traditional match.

Twenty20 cricket is a form of cricket that was introduced in England in the year 2003, mainly with the aim of making the game more interesting and attracting more audience. Though it is similar to the traditional cricket game to quite an extent, there are certain differences as well. Most of these differences arise from changes in the rules and format of the game. We have given a brief description of the rules of T20 cricket in the following lines

Twenty20 Cricket Rules
General Rules

• In a single innings, each of the bowlers can bowl a maximum of only one-fifth of the total overs i.e. 4 overs in a total of 20 overs.
• If a bowler ever delivers a ball overstepping the popping crease, it is a no-ball. The batting team gets one run for the ball and the next delivery is a free hit. In other words, in the next ball, the batsmen can only be dismissed through a run out.
• If either of the umpires believes that a team is wasting time, he can award a five-run penalty, at his own discretion.
• In a normal T20 game, the interval lasts for 15 minutes. However, in a reduced-overs match, it can be cut to 10 minutes.
• If, and only if, each of the two teams has faced (or had the opportunity to face) five overs, will be a match deemed to have played.
• In each Twenty20 cricket match, one short-pitched ball is allowed per over.
• To calculate a team's net run rate, the average runs per over scored by that team is deducted from the average runs per over scored against it.

Format
The format of a Twenty20 match is quite similar to normal limited-overs match, only the number of overs for batting is just twenty, just as the name of the game suggests. The game is played between two teams, each of them having a single innings of 20 overs. In the context of Twenty20 cricket, there is a visual difference as well, though it is a pretty minor one. In T20, members of the batting team do not arrive from/retire to traditional dressing rooms. Rather, they have a bench, mainly a row of chairs, visibly in the playing arena, used for coming and going purposes.

Field Restrictions

• At the most, five fielders can be on the leg side, at any given point of time.
• In the first six overs of a T20 game, there cannot be more than two fielders outside the 30-yard circle.
• There can be a maximum of five fielders outside the fielding circle, after the first six overs end.
• The fielding team has to start bowling its 20th over within 75 minutes. If it fails to do so, extra six runs will be added to the batting team�s score, for every whole over bowled after the 75 minute-mark. In case the umpire believes that the batting team is wasting time, he may add more time to this.

Tie Deciders
There cannot be a tie in a Twenty20 cricket game. If, and when, there is a tie by the end of a T20 match, it is broken with a one over per side - �Eliminator� or �Super Over�. Each of the two teams nominates three batsmen and one bowler, to play a one-over per side, which can be termed as �mini-match� or �One1�. If a team loses two wickets before the over is complete, it loses the game. If this does not happen, the team with the higher score from its over wins it. In case there is a tie after the �mini-match� as well, the team that has higher number of sixes in its full innings, or in the �One1�, will be declared the winner. If, by any chance, there is still a tie, the winning team is the one with the higher number of fours in both innings.

Twenty20 World Cup records
Batting
Most runs	Mahela Jayawardene	615 (18 matches) (2007-2010)
Most runs in a tounament	Tillakaratne Dilshan	317 (7 matches) (2009)
Highest individual score	Chris Gayle v South Africa	117 (57 balls) (2007)
Most 50+ scores	Mahela Jayawardene	5 (18 matches) (2007-2010)
Highest strike rate (Minimum 125 balls faced)	Chris Gayle	153.47 (11 matches) (2007-2010)
Highest average (Minimum of 10 innings)	Rohit Sharma	60.60 (12 matches) (2007-2010)
Highest Partnership	Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara v West Indies	166 (100 balls) (second wicket) (2010)
Most fours	Mahela Jayawardene	62 (18 matches) (2007-2010)
Most fours in a tournament	Tillakaratne Dilshan	46 (7 matches) (2009)[2]
Most fours in an inning	Herschelle Gibbs v West Indies	14 (2007)
Most sixes	Chris Gayle	27 (11 matches) (2007-2010)
Most sixes in a tournament	Craig McMillan	13 (5 matches) (2007)
Most sixes in an inning	Chris Gayle v South Africa	10 (2007)
Most runs in an over	Yuvraj Singh v England	36 (2007)
Bowling
Best bowling figures	Umar Gul v New Zealand	5/6 (3 overs) (2009)
Most wickets	Shahid Afridi	27 (20 matches) (2007-2010)
Most wickets in a tournament	Dirk Nannes	14 (7 matches) (2010)
Most four wicket hauls	Morne Morkel	2 (10 matches) (2009-2010)
	Saeed Ajmal	2 (13 matches) (2009-2010)
	Umar Gul	2 (14 matches) (2007-2009)
	Shahid Afridi	2 (20 matches) (2007-2010)
Most economical (Minimum 20 overs bowled)	Darren Sammy[3]	5.30 (21.4 overs) (7 matches) (2009-2010)
Most expensive (Minimum 20 overs bowled)	Kieron Pollard[3]	9.95 (20 overs) (11 matches) (2009-2010)
Fielding
Most dismissals (wicket-keeper)	Kamran Akmal	21 (20 matches) (2007-2010)
Most catches (fielder)	AB de Villiers	16 (16 matches) (2007-2010)
Team
Highest score	Sri Lanka v  Kenya	260/6 (2007)
Lowest score	Ireland v West Indies	68/10 (2010)
Largest victory margin (runs)	Sri Lanka v  Kenya	172 (2007)
Largest victory margin (wickets)	Australia v  Sri Lanka	10 (2007)
Longest winning streak	Sri Lanka	6 (2009)
	Australia	6 (2010)