Twenty20

When the Benson & Hedges Cup ended in 2002, the ECB sought another one-day competition to fill with the younger generation in response to dwindling crowds and reduced sponsorship. The Board wanted to deliver fast-paced, exciting cricket accessible to fans who were put off by the longer versions of the game.^[2] Stuart Robertson, the marketing manager of the ECB, proposed a 20-over-per-innings game, invented by New Zealand cricketer Martin Crowe, to county chairmen in 2001, and they voted 11–7 in favour of adopting the new format.^[3]

The first official Twenty20 matches were played on 13 June 2003 between the English counties in the Twenty20 Cup.^[4] The first season of Twenty20 in England was a relative success, with the Surrey Lions defeating the Warwickshire Bears by nine wickets in the final to claim the title.^[5] The first Twenty20 match held at Lord's, on 15 July 2004 between Middlesex and Surrey, attracted a crowd of 27,509, the highest attendance for any county cricket game at the ground – other than a one-day final – since 1953.^[6]

Thirteen teams from different parts of the country participated in Pakistan's inaugural competition in 2004, with the Faisalabad Wolves the first winners. On 12 January 2005 Australia's first Twenty20 game was played at the WACA Ground between the Western Warriors and the Victorian Bushrangers. It drew a sell-out crowd of 20,000, which was the first one in nearly 25 years.^[7]

Starting on 11 July 2006, 19 West Indies regional teams competed in what was named the Stanford 20/20 tournament. The event was financially backed by billionaire Allen Stanford, who gave at least $28 million in funding money. It was intended that the tournament would be an annual event. Guyana won the inaugural event, defeating Trinidad and Tobago by five wickets, securing $1 million in prize money.^[8][9]

On 5 January 2007 the Queensland Bulls played the New South Wales Blues at The Gabba, Brisbane. An unexpected 16,000 fans turned up on the day to buy tickets, causing Gabba staff to throw open gates and grant many fans free entry. Attendance reached 27,653.^[10] For the February 2008 Twenty20 match between Australia and India, 85,824 people attended the match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, involving the Twenty20 World Champions^[11] against the ODI World Champions.^[12]

The Stanford Super Series was held in October 2008 between the three teams. The respective winners of the English and Caribbean Twenty20 competitions, Middlesex and Trinidad and Tobago, and a Stanford Superstars team formed from West Indies domestic players. Trinidad and Tobago won the competition, securing $280,000 prize money.^[13][14] On 1 November, the Stanford Superstars played England in what was expected to be the first of five fixtures in as many years with the winner claiming $20 million in each match. The Stanford Superstars won the first match,^[15] but no further fixtures were held as Allen Stanford was charged with fraud in 2009.^[16]

Several T20 leagues started after the popularity of the 2007 ICC World Twenty20.^[17] The Board of Control for Cricket in India started the Indian Premier League popularly known as IPL, which is now the largest cricket league, in 2008, which utilizes the North American sports franchise system with ten teams in major Indian cities. In September 2017, the broadcasting and digital rights for the next five years (2018–2022) of the IPL^[18] were sold to Star India for US$2.55 billion,^[19] making it one of the world's most lucrative sports league per match. The IPL has seen a spike in its brand valuation to US$5.3 billion after the 10th edition, according to global valuation and corporate finance advisor Duff & Phelps.^[20]

The Big Bash League, Bangladesh Premier League, Pakistan Super League, Caribbean Premier League, and Afghanistan Premier League started thereafter, following similar formulae, and remained popular with the fans.^[21][22] The Women's Big Bash League was started in 2015 by Cricket Australia, while the Kia Super League was started in England and Wales in 2016. The Mzansi Super League in South Africa was started in 2018.

Several T20 leagues^[23] follow the general format of having a group stage followed by a Page playoff system among the top four teams where:

• The first- and second-highest placed teams in the group stage face off, with the winner going to the final.
• The third- and fourth-place teams face off, with the loser being eliminated.
• The two teams who have not yet made it to the final after the above two matches have been played face off to fill the second berth in the final.

In the Big Bash League, there is an additional match to determine which of the fourth- or fifth-placed teams will qualify to be in the top four.^[24]

The first Twenty20 International match was held on 5 August 2004 between the England and New Zealand women's teams, with New Zealand winning by nine runs.^[25]

On 17 February 2005 Australia defeated New Zealand in the first men's international Twenty20 match, played at Eden Park in Auckland. The game was played in a light-hearted manner – both sides turned out in kit similar to that worn in the 1980s, the New Zealand team's a direct copy of that worn by the Beige Brigade. Some of the players also sported moustaches or beards and hairstyles popular in the 1980s, taking part in a competition amongst themselves for "best retro look", at the request of the Beige Brigade. Australia won the game comprehensively, and as the result became obvious towards the end of the NZ innings, the players and umpires took things less seriously: Glenn McGrath jokingly replayed the Trevor Chappell underarm incident from a 1981 ODI between the two sides, and Billy Bowden showed him a mock red card (red cards are not normally used in cricket) in response.

The first Twenty20 international in England was played between England and Australia at the Rose Bowl in Hampshire on 13 June 2005, which England won by a margin of 100 runs, a record victory which lasted until 2007.^[26]

On 9 January 2006 Australia and South Africa met in the first international Twenty20 game in Australia. In a first, each player's nickname appeared on the back of his uniform, rather than his surname. The international match drew a crowd of 38,894 people at The Gabba.

On 16 February 2006 New Zealand defeated West Indies in a tie-breaking bowl-out 3–0; 126 runs were scored apiece in the game proper. The game was the last international match played by Chris Cairns.

The ICC has declared that it sees T20 as the optimal format for globalizing the game,^[27] and in 2018, announced that it will give international status to all T20 cricket matches played between its member nations.^[28] This resulted in a significant leap in the number of T20I matches played across the world.^[29][30]

Every two years an ICC World Twenty20 tournament is to take place, except in the event of an ICC Cricket World Cup being scheduled in the same year, in which case it will be held the year before. The first tournament was in 2007 in South Africa where India defeated Pakistan in the final. Two Associate teams had played in the first tournament, selected through the 2007 ICC World Cricket League Division One, a 50-over competition. In December 2007 it was decided to hold a qualifying tournament with a 20-over format to better prepare the teams. With six participants, two would qualify for the 2009 World Twenty20 and would each receive $250,000 in prize money.^[31] The second tournament was won by Pakistan, who beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets in England on 21 June 2009. The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 tournament was held in the West Indies in May 2010, where England defeated Australia by seven wickets. The 2012 ICC World Twenty20 was won by the West Indies, by defeating Sri Lanka at the finals. It was the first time in cricket history when a T20 World Cup tournament took place in an Asian country. The 2014 ICC World Twenty20 was won by Sri Lanka, by defeating India at the finals, where the tournament was held in Bangladesh. The 2016 ICC World Twenty20 was won by West Indies. In July 2020, the ICC announced that both the 2020 and 2021 editions had been postponed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In June 2021, the ICC expanded the Twenty20 World Cup from 16 to 20 teams starting from the 2024 edition onwards.^[32]

Twenty20 cricket is claimed to have resulted in a more athletic and explosive form of cricket. Indian fitness coach Ramji Srinivasan declared in an interview with the Indian fitness website Takath.com that Twenty20 had "raised the bar" in terms of fitness levels for all players, demanding higher levels of strength, speed, agility and reaction time from all players regardless of role in the team.^[33] Matthew Hayden credited retirement from international cricket with aiding his performance in general and fitness in particular in the Indian Premier League.^[34]

Several commentators have noted that the T20 format has been embraced by many Associate members of the ICC partly because it is more financially viable to play.^[35][27]

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, on the other hand, has criticised Twenty20 as being detrimental to Test cricket and for hampering batsmen's scoring skills and concentration.^[36] Former Australian captain Greg Chappell made similar complaints, fearing that young players would play too much T20 and not develop their batting skills fully, while former England player Alex Tudor feared the same for bowling skills.^[37][38]

Former West Indies captains Clive Lloyd, Michael Holding and Garfield Sobers criticised Twenty20 for its role in discouraging players from representing their test cricket national side, with many West Indies players like Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine and Dwayne Bravo preferring instead to play in a Twenty20 franchise elsewhere in the world and make far more money.^{[39][40][41][42][43]}

In June 2009, speaking at the annual Cowdrey Lecture at Lord's, former Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist pushed for Twenty20 to be made an Olympic sport. "It would," he said, "be difficult to see a better, quicker or cheaper way of spreading the game throughout the world."^[45] This became a reality starting with the 2028 Summer Olympics. T20 cricket has also been accepted into the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.^[46]

Twenty20 match format is a form of limited overs cricket in that it involves two teams, each with a single innings. The key feature is that each team bats for a maximum of 20 overs (120 legal balls). The batting team members do not arrive from and depart to traditional dressing rooms, but come and go from a bench (typically a row of chairs) visible in the playing arena, analogous to association football's technical area or a baseball dugout.^[47]

The Laws of cricket apply to Twenty20, with major exceptions:^[48]

• Each bowler may bowl a maximum of only one-fifth of the total overs per innings. For a full, uninterrupted match, this is four overs.
• If a bowler delivers a no-ball by overstepping the crease, it costs one or two runs (depending on the competition) and their next delivery is designated a "free-hit". In this circumstance the batter can only be dismissed through a run out, hitting the ball twice or obstructing the field.
• The following fielding restrictions apply:
  • No more than five fielders can be on the leg side at any time.
  • During the first six overs, a maximum of two fielders can be outside the 30-yard circle (this is known as the powerplay).
  • After the first six overs, a maximum of five fielders can be outside the fielding circle.
    • However, in Australia's Big Bash League the Powerplay is only the first 4 overs, with the batters choosing when the same restrictions apply for 2 overs in the second half of the innings, in a period called a Powersurge.
• If the fielding team does not start to bowl their 20th over within 75 minutes, the batting side is credited an extra six runs for every whole over bowled after the 75-minute mark; the umpire may add more time to this if they believe the batting team is wasting time.

Currently, if the match ends with the scores tied and there must be a winner, the tie is broken with a one-over-per-side Eliminator^[49] or Super Over:^[50][51]Each team nominates three batsmen and one bowler to play a one-over-per-side "mini-match". The team which bats second in the match bats first in the Super Over.^[52][53] In turn, each side bats one over bowled by the one nominated opposition bowler, with their innings over if they lose two wickets before the over is completed. The side with the higher score from their Super Over wins.If the Super Over also ends up in a tie, it is repeated until the tie is broken.

In the Australian domestic competition the Big Bash League, the Super Over is played slightly differently, with no two-wicket limit, and if the Super Over is also tied then a "countback" is used, with scores after the fifth ball for each team being used to determine the result. If it is still tied, then the countback goes to four balls, and so on.^[54] The latest Super Over to decide a match was between the United States and Pakistan on 6 June 2024, in the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, Texas, with the United States winning 18/1 to 13/1 in the Super Over after tying on 159.

Tied Twenty20 matches were previously decided by a bowl-out.^[55]

Women's and men's Twenty20 Internationals have been played since 2004 and 2005 respectively. To date, 76 nations have played the format, including all Test-playing nations.

Nation	Date of men's T20I debut	Date of women's T20I debut
Australia	17 February 2005	2 September 2005
New Zealand	17 February 2005	5 August 2004
England	13 June 2005	5 August 2004
South Africa	21 October 2005	10 August 2007
West Indies	16 February 2006	27 June 2008
Sri Lanka	15 June 2006	12 June 2009
Pakistan	28 August 2006	25 May 2009
Bangladesh	28 November 2006	27 August 2012
Zimbabwe	28 November 2006	5 January 2019
India	1 December 2006	5 August 2006
Kenya	1 September 2007	6 April 2019
Scotland	12 September 2007	7 July 2018
Netherlands	2 August 2008	27 June 2008
Ireland	2 August 2008	27 June 2008
Canada	2 August 2008	17 May 2019
Bermuda	3 August 2008
Afghanistan	2 February 2010
Nepal	16 March 2014	12 January 2019
Hong Kong	16 March 2014	12 January 2019
United Arab Emirates	17 March 2014	7 July 2018
Papua New Guinea	15 July 2015	7 July 2018
Oman	25 July 2015	17 January 2020
Sierra Leone	19 October 2021	20 August 2018
Lesotho	16 October 2021	20 August 2018
South Korea	9 October 2022	3 November 2018
China	26 July 2023	3 November 2018
Indonesia	9 October 2022	12 January 2019
Myanmar	26 July 2023	12 January 2019
Bhutan	5 December 2019	13 January 2019
Bahrain	20 January 2019	20 March 2022
Saudi Arabia	20 January 2019	20 March 2022
Kuwait	20 January 2019	18 February 2019
Maldives	20 January 2019	2 December 2019
Qatar	21 January 2019	17 January 2020
Rwanda	18 August 2021	26 January 2019
United States	15 March 2019	17 May 2019
Philippines	22 March 2019	21 December 2019
Vanuatu	22 March 2019	6 May 2019
Spain	29 March 2019	5 May 2022
Malta	29 March 2019	27 August 2022
Mexico	25 April 2019	23 August 2018
Belize	25 April 2019	13 December 2019
Costa Rica	25 April 2019	26 April 2019
Panama	25 April 2019
Japan	9 October 2022	6 May 2019
Fiji	9 September 2022	6 May 2019
Tanzania	2 November 2021	6 May 2019
Belgium	11 May 2019	25 September 2021
Germany	11 May 2019	26 June 2019
Uganda	20 May 2019	7 July 2018
Nigeria	20 May 2019	26 January 2019
Ghana	20 May 2019	28 March 2022
Namibia	20 May 2019	20 August 2018
Botswana	20 May 2019	20 August 2018
Italy	25 May 2019	9 August 2021
Guernsey	31 May 2019	31 May 2019
Jersey	31 May 2019	31 May 2019
Norway	15 June 2019	31 July 2019
Denmark	16 June 2019	28 May 2022
Mali	17 November 2021	18 June 2019
Malaysia	24 June 2019	3 June 2018
Thailand	24 June 2019	3 June 2018
Samoa	8 July 2019	6 May 2019
Finland	13 July 2019
Singapore	22 July 2019	9 August 2018
France	5 August 2021	31 July 2019
Cayman Islands	18 August 2019
Austria	29 August 2019	31 July 2019
Romania	29 August 2019	27 August 2022
Luxembourg	29 August 2019
Turkey	29 August 2019	29 May 2023
Czech Republic	30 August 2019
Argentina	3 October 2019	3 October 2019
Brazil	3 October 2019	23 August 2018
Chile	3 October 2019	23 August 2018
Peru	3 October 2019	3 October 2019
Bulgaria	14 October 2019
Serbia	14 October 2019	10 September 2022
Greece	15 October 2019	9 September 2022
Portugal	25 October 2019
Gibraltar	26 October 2019
Malawi	6 November 2019	20 August 2018
Mozambique	6 November 2019	20 August 2018

In November 2011, the ICC released the first Twenty20 International rankings for the men's game, based on the same system as the Test and ODI rankings. The rankings cover a two- to three-year period, with matches since the most recent 1 August weighted fully, matches in the preceding 12 months weighted two-thirds, and matches in the 12 months preceding that weighted one-third. To qualify for the rankings, teams must have played at least eight Twenty20 Internationals in the ranking period.^[56][57]

The ICC Women's Rankings were launched in October 2015, which aggregated performance over all three forms of the game.^[58] In October 2018, the ICC announced that the women's ranking would be split between ODIs and T20Is, and released both tables shortly thereafter.^[59]

ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings

• v
• t
• e

Team	Matches	Points	Rating
India	58	15,444	266
Australia	40	10,241	256
England	39	9876	253
West Indies	46	11604	252
South Africa	35	8777	251
New Zealand	49	12,113	247
Pakistan	46	11,097	241
Sri Lanka	37	8,508	230
Bangladesh	50	11,253	225
Afghanistan	39	8,682	223
Ireland	47	9,159	195
Zimbabwe	44	8,528	194
Scotland	24	4,606	192
Namibia	37	6,965	188
Netherlands	21	3,873	184
United Arab Emirates	42	7,386	176
Nepal	39	6,601	169
United States	20	3381	169
Oman	38	6,192	163
Papua New Guinea	31	4,472	144
Uganda	62	8,353	135
Hong Kong	37	4,977	135
Canada	21	2,700	129
Malaysia	40	4,931	123
Kuwait	31	3,677	119
Bahrain	34	4,030	119
Jersey	25	2,936	117
Qatar	23	2,598	113
Italy	18	1,944	108
Bermuda	11	1,185	108
Kenya	45	4,765	106
Spain	13	1,376	106
Saudi Arabia	30	3,142	105
Tanzania	42	3,797	90
Germany	31	2,761	89
Guernsey	18	1,389	77
Nigeria	29	2,233	77
Singapore	23	1,676	73
Norway	18	1,299	72
Cayman Islands	9	646	72
Denmark	21	1,430	68
Cambodia	22	1,471	67
Portugal	17	1,071	63
Isle of Man	14	857	61
Belgium	28	1,641	59
Vanuatu	16	921	58
Austria	30	1,691	56
France	24	1,325	55
Botswana	24	1,298	54
Japan	28	1,504	54
Switzerland	15	805	54
Malawi	20	953	48
Romania	28	1,316	47
Czech Republic	14	658	47
Finland	16	684	43
Argentina	8	340	43
Sweden	15	629	42
Philippines	17	701	41
Indonesia	28	1,091	39
Thailand	24	850	35
Mozambique	16	522	33
Rwanda	64	2,048	32
Ghana	28	873	31
Fiji	5	152	30
Malta	41	1,188	29
Luxembourg	28	753	27
Sierra Leone	25	651	26
Israel	7	178	25
Bahamas	8	191	24
Slovenia	7	156	22
Hungary	17	336	20
Gibraltar	27	503	19
Estonia	14	255	18
Panama	9	257	17
Croatia	10	151	15
Cyprus	12	146	12
Bhutan	16	176	11
Serbia	18	139	8
Bulgaria	21	154	7
Eswatini	17	118	7
China	11	53	5
Maldives	21	61	3
Cameroon	10	26	3
Mongolia	8	0	0
Turkey	9	0	0
Seychelles	5	0	0
Samoa	5	0	0
Mali	6	0	0
Lesotho	11	0	0
Gambia	6	0	0
References: ICC T20I rankings, As of 11 July 2024
"Matches" is the number of matches played in the 12–24 months since the May before last, plus half the number in the 24 months before that.

ICC Women's T20I Rankings

• v
• t
• e

Team	Matches	Points	Rating
Australia	34	9,982	294
England	40	11,361	284
India	50	13,099	262
New Zealand	34	8,630	254
South Africa	34	8,260	243
West Indies	35	8,331	238
Sri Lanka	43	9,868	229
Pakistan	41	8,936	218
Bangladesh	38	7,562	199
Ireland	38	6,868	181
Papua New Guinea	26	4,088	157
Thailand	44	6,766	154
Zimbabwe	37	5,616	152
Scotland	28	4,236	151
Netherlands	35	4,421	126
United Arab Emirates	52	6,531	122
Uganda	58	6,414	111
Namibia	33	3,649	111
Tanzania	34	3,468	102
Indonesia	32	3,173	99
Nepal	32	3,101	97
Hong Kong	45	3,993	89
United States	17	1,320	78
Malaysia	43	3,225	75
Kenya	46	3,441	75
Rwanda	56	3,995	71
Nigeria	45	3,143	70
Italy	22	1,430	65
Jersey	13	839	65
Gibraltar	7	450	64
Vanuatu	27	1,628	60
Canada	9	513	57
Greece	11	613	56
Germany	15	766	51
Spain	6	256	43
France	23	973	42
Brazil	20	846	42
Sweden	16	586	37
Luxembourg	9	323	36
Guernsey	11	375	34
Isle of Man	14	462	33
Bhutan	18	549	31
Sierra Leone	21	632	30
Botswana	39	1,150	29
Myanmar	13	334	26
China	12	294	25
Kuwait	21	487	23
Samoa	21	386	18
Mozambique	16	269	17
Malta	6	100	17
Singapore	33	536	16
Romania	13	207	16
Japan	24	363	15
Malawi	10	125	13
Bahrain	11	123	11
Cook Islands	11	108	10
Austria	27	252	9
Argentina	20	150	8
Denmark	8	57	7
Qatar	20	126	6
Cambodia	13	28	2
Oman	7	11	2
Norway	11	3	0
Mongolia	8	0	0
Eswatini	9	0	0
Serbia	7	0	0
Philippines	12	0	0
Lesotho	10	0	0
Ghana	7	0	0
Fiji	21	0	0
Estonia	9	0	0
Cameroon	19	0	0
Czech Republic	7	0	0
Belgium	6	0	0
References: ICC Women's T20I Rankings, Updated on 9 July 2024

This is a list of the current Twenty20 domestic competitions in several of the leading cricket countries.

• List of Twenty20 cricket records
• List of Twenty20 International records
• 100-ball cricket
• The Hundred (cricket)
• T10 cricket, the 10-over format of cricket
• Major League Cricket
• International League T20
• Global T20 Canada

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Twenty20 cricket.

• Cricinfo – Twenty20 records
• CricinfoT20 – Twenty20 records
• IPL News 2021