The ICC Men's T20 World Cup, formerly the ICC World Twenty20, is a biennial

world cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

for

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

(T20I) format, organised by the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

(ICC). It was held in every odd year from

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, and since

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

has been held in every even year with the exception of 2018 and 2020. In 2018, the tournament was rebranded from World Twenty20 to Men's T20 World Cup. The 2011 edition of the tournament was brought forward to 2010 to replace the ICC Champions Trophy. In May 2016, the ICC put forward the idea of having a tournament in 2018, with South Africa being the possible host, but later dropped the idea due to multiple bilateral cricket events taking place that year. The 2020 edition of the tournament was scheduled to take place in Australia but due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the tournament was postponed until 2021, with the intended host changed to India. The 2021 Men's T20 World Cup was later relocated to the United Arab Emirates and Oman due to problems relating to the

COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As of , according to Indian government ...

, taking place five years after the previous (2016) iteration. As of 2024, nine editions have so far been played, a total of 24 teams have competed and six national teams have won the T20 World Cup so far. Three teams,

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

(

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

(2010,

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

) and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

(2007,

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

), have won the competition twice each.

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

(2009),

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

(

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

), and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

(2021) have one title each. A total of 15 countries have hosted the tournament (including 6 island nations of the West Indies). India are the current champions having won their second title in the 2024 edition. The next edition of the tournament will take place in India and Sri Lanka in 2026.

History

Background

When the Benson & Hedges Cup ended in 2002, the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...

sought another one-day competition to appeal to 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. Stuart Robertson, the marketing manager of the ECB, proposed a 20- over per

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). In cricket and rounders, "innings" is ...

game to county chairmen in 2001, and they voted 11–7 in favour of adopting the new format. The first official

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

matches were played on 13 June 2003 between the English counties in the

T20 Blast The T20 Blast, officially known as the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in England and Wales. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003. T20 Blast is t ...

's inaugural edition. The first season of Twenty20 in England was a relative success, with the

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

defeating the

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

by 9 wickets in the final to claim the title. The first Twenty20 match held at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

, on 15 July 2004 between

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

and Surrey, attracted a crowd of 27,509, the largest attendance for any

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Two county championship competitions have existed since the late 19th century at ...

game at the ground since 1983. On 17 February 2005,

defeated

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in the first men's full international Twenty20 match, played at Eden Park in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

2007–2009: Initial years

The first tournament was in

in South Africa where

defeated

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. In December 2007 it was decided to hold a qualifying tournament with a 20-over format to better prepare the teams. The 2009 tournament in England was won by Pakistan who defeated

on the

2010: Transition to even years

The third tournament, was brought forward to 2010 from 2011 to replace the ICC Champions Trophy. This scheduling bottleneck was caused after the 5th edition of the ICC Champions Trophy, scheduled to be hosted by Pakistan in 2008, was delayed and shifted to South Africa in 2009 due to security concerns. The Champions Trophy was converted into a quadrennial tournament after that. The third World Twenty20 was held in the West Indies in May 2010, where

defeated Australia by 7 wickets in the

. The 2012 tournament in Sri Lanka was won by the

, by defeating Sri Lanka in the

2014: Expansion to 16 teams

The 2012 edition was to be expanded into a 16-team format, however this was reverted to 12. The 2014 tournament in Bangladesh, was the first to feature 16 teams including all ten full members and six associate members who qualified through the 2013 Qualifier. Sri Lanka won the 2014 tournament after defeating India in the

. The 2016 tournament in India was won by West Indies, who became the first team to win two T20 World Cups after defeating England in the

2018: Cancelled tournament and rebranding

In May 2016, the ICC proposed a World Twenty20 tournament in 2018, with South Africa being the possible host, but this was later dropped as the top member nations were busied with multiple bilateral cricket events taking place in 2018. In November 2018, as part of a goal to heighten the profile of the World Twenty20 tournaments, the ICC announced that they would be rebranded as the "T20 World Cup" beginning in 2020.

2020–2022: Impact of the COVID-19

Initially, Australia was set to host both the men's and women's tournaments in 2020, however in July 2020, the ICC announced that the 2020 tournament had been postponed to 2021 due to the

and with Australian international travel restrictions not expected to be lifted until 2021. Later, the ICC chose to relocate the tournament to India, and award Australia the 2022 edition as compensation. Due to concerns over the

, the tournament was played at venues in the United Arab Emirates and Oman instead, although India remained as the formal host. The 2021 tournament was won by Australia, who won their maiden T20 World Cup title after defeating New Zealand in the

. The 2022 tournament was won by England, who won their second T20 World Cup title after defeating Pakistan in the

2024: Expansion to 20 teams

In June 2021, the ICC announced that the Men's T20 World Cup would expand to 20 teams beginning in 2024, divided into four groups of five each for the group stage. The top two teams in each pool would advance to the Super 8 stage. In December 2015, Tim Anderson, the ICC's head of global development, suggested that a future tournament be hosted by the United States. He believed that hosting the event could help spur growth of the game in the country, where it is relatively obscure and faces competition by other sports such as

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. In 2020, the United States and West Indies expressed interest in co-hosting a T20 World Cup, and the 2024 tournament was hosted by the West Indies and the United States. It was the first time the US had hosted a major ICC event. In the

, India defeated South Africa to win their second T20 World Cup title after 17 years.

2026: Neutral venue arrangements

In December 2024, following an agreement between

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...

and

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), formerly known as Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan (BCCP), is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan ...

, the ICC confirmed that any matches involving India or Pakistan at ICC events hosted by India or Pakistan in the 2024–2027 ICC Events cycle would be played at a neutral venue, which includes the 2026 tournament to be hosted by India and Sri Lanka.

Hosts

The ICC's executive committee votes for the hosts of the tournament after examining bids from the nations which have expressed an interest in holding the event. After South Africa in 2007, the tournament was hosted by England, the West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016 respectively. After a gap of four years, Australia was set to host the 2020 edition, but it was postponed to 2021, relocated to India and played in UAE and Oman due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2022 tournament was hosted by Australia. In November 2021 as part of the 2024–2031 men's hosts cycle, the ICC confirmed the hosts for the next four Men's T20 World Cup tournaments from 2024 to 2030. The West Indies and United States would co-host the 2024 edition, India and Sri Lanka to co-host the 2026 edition, Australia and New Zealand to host the 2028 edition and the 2030 edition is to be co-hosted by England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland.

Format

Qualification

All ICC full members qualify automatically for the tournament, with the remaining places filled by other ICC members through a qualification process. Qualification for the inaugural tournament came from the results of the first cycle of the World Cricket League, a 50-over league for ICC associate and affiliate members. The two finalists of the 2007 WCL Division One tournament,

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, qualified for the World Twenty20 later in the year. A separate qualification tournament was implemented for the second tournament and was retained until 2022. The number of teams qualifying through the World Twenty20 Qualifier varied, two in

and

, six in

and

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, and 4 in 2022 ( A, B). Until 2016, teams advanced to the T20 World Cup Qualifier through the WCL. After the WCL was superseded by the new CWC qualification process, a new set of regional qualifiers were introduced in 2019. Until the 2022 edition, teams from regional qualifiers advanced to the T20WC Qualifier through which they qualified for the T20 World Cup. Following the tournament's expansion to include 20 teams, winners of regional qualifiers would directly advance to the T20 World Cup based on the regional quota.

Tournament

The T20 World Cup is played in three stages. The preliminary stage or group stage is played by 2 (2014–2022) or 4 (2007–2012; 2024–present) groups in a round-robin format. The second round known as Super 8 (2007–2012; 2024–present), Super 10 (2014–2016) and Super 12 (2021–2022) is also played by 2 groups in a round-robin format. In both the preliminary round and the Super round, teams are ranked based on: 1) Points; 2) Wins; 3) Net run rate; 4) Results of games between tied teams; 5) Pre-seedings in the preliminary stage and T20I rankings in the Super stage. The third round is played as a

knockout stage A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

of four teams. In case of a tie (that is, both teams scoring the same number of runs at the end of their respective innings), a

Super Over Super Over, also known as a one-over eliminator or a one over per side eliminator, is a Tiebreaker, tie-breaking method used in Limited overs cricket, limited-overs cricket matches. If a match ends in a "Result (cricket)#Tie, tie", it proceeds t ...

would decide the winner. In the case of a tie occurring again in the Super Over, subsequent super overs would be played until there is a winner. Prior to 2019, the match would be won by the team that had scored the most boundaries in their innings. During the 2007 tournament, a bowl-out was used to decide the loser of tied matches.

Trophy

The ICC Men's T20 World Cup Trophy is presented to the winners of the final. It is made of

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

and

rhodium Rhodium is a chemical element; it has symbol Rh and atomic number 45. It is a very rare, silvery-white, hard, corrosion-resistant transition metal. It is a noble metal and a member of the platinum group. It has only one naturally occurring isot ...

and weighs approximately and stands tall, with a width of at the top and at the base. It was designed in 2007 by Minale Bryce Design Strategy, based in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. The trophy was initially manufactured by Amit Pabuwal in India, and then in 2012, Links of London became the manufacturer of the trophy. In 2021, Thomas Lyte became the official manufacturer of the trophy.

Attendance

Summary

As of the 2024 tournament, twenty-four nations have played in the T20 World Cup. Nine teams have competed in every tournament, six of which have won the title. West Indies, England and India have won the title twice each, while Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Australia have won the title once each. Sri Lanka, England, Pakistan and India have each made three final appearances, while Pakistan have also made six semi-final appearances. The best result by a non-Test playing nation is the Super 8 appearance by the United States in 2024, while the worst result by a Test playing nation is the Super 12 appearance by Zimbabwe in 2022. No teams have yet won the tournament as hosts; the best performance by a host nation is runners-up by Sri Lanka in 2012. No title winners have yet defended their title in the following edition; the best performance by a defending champion is the semi-final appearances by Pakistan, West Indies and England in 2010, 2014 and 2024 respectively.

Kensington Oval The Kensington Oval is a stadium located in the western part of Bridgetown, Barbados. It is the pre-eminent sporting facility on the island and is primarily used for cricket. It has hosted many important cricket games between local, regional, ...

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Barbados. Formerly The Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the Parishes of Barbados, parish of Saint Michael, Barbados, Saint Mic ...

, Barbados is the only venue to have hosted more than one final (2010 and 2024). All Test playing nations made their debuts in the inaugural edition with the exception of Ireland and Afghanistan who made their debuts in the 2009 and 2010 editions respectively. Kenya and Scotland were the only non-Test playing nations to be featured in the inaugural edition.

Final results

Team performance

The table below provides a summary of the performances of teams over past T20 World Cups, as of the end of the 2024 tournament. Teams are ordered by best result then by appearances, and then alphabetically. Test playing nations / ICC full members are indicated by a dagger symbol () next to it. * Source:

ESPNcricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

Records

As of the 2024 tournament, former Indian captain

Rohit Sharma Rohit Sharma (born 30 April 1987) is an Indian Cricket, international cricketer and the Captain (cricket), captain of the India national cricket team, national team in One Day International, ODIs. He is also a former captain in Tests and T20 ...

and Shakib Al Hasan of Bangladesh are the only players to have appeared in all nine editions of the T20 World Cup. Rohit Sharma also holds the record for most appearances in a T20 World Cup match (47), while

MS Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni (; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian professional cricketer who plays as a right-handed batter and a wicket-keeper. Widely regarded as one of the most prolific wicket-keeper batsmen and captains and one of the greatest O ...

holds the record for most T20 World Cup matches as a captain (33).

Virat Kohli Virat Kohli (born 5 November 1988) is an Indian Cricket, international cricketer who plays One Day International, ODI cricket for the India national cricket team, national team and is a former Captain (cricket), captain in all formats. He is a ...

has won the most player of the match awards in T20 World Cups (8). Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados has hosted most T20 World Cup matches (20). Australian

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French , , and , : (as evidenced in cricke ...

Rod Tucker Rodney James Tucker (born 28 August 1964) is an Australian cricket umpire, member of the ICC Elite Umpire Panel and officiates in international Tests, ODIs and T20Is. He was a cricketer who played briefly for New South Wales from 1985/86 to 1 ...

has umpired the most T20 World Cup matches (46), while

Simon Taufel Simon James Arthur Taufel (born 21 January 1971) is an Australian former cricket umpire who was earlier a member of the ICC Elite umpire panel. He won five consecutive ICC Umpire of the Year awards between 2004 and 2008, and is widely regard ...

has umpired the most T20 World Cup finals. England and South Africa scored the highest match aggregate of 459/12 in 2016. England also holds the record for the highest score chased in T20 World Cups for the same match. India has the highest victory percentage in T20 World Cups (67.30%). Former Indian captain Virat Kohli holds the records for most runs (1,292), most runs in a tournament (319 in 2014) and most 50+ scores (15), while Chris Gayle of West Indies holds the record for most centuries (2). Shakib Al Hasan also holds the record for most wickets (50), while Fazalhaq Farooqi of Afghanistan and Arshdeep Singh of India shares the record for most wickets in a tournament (17 in 2024). Pat Cummins is the only player to have taken more than one

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

and has taken 2 hat-tricks both in 2024. Former Indian captain MS Dhoni holds the record for most dismissals by a

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

(32) and David Warner of Australia hold the record for most catches by a fielder (25). Former West Indies captain Daren Sammy holds the record for most T20 World Cup titles as a captain, while

Marlon Samuels Marlon Nathaniel Samuels (born 5 February 1981) is a Jamaican former cricketer who played internationally for the West Indies in all three formats, and a former ODI captain. He is a right-handed middle order batsman and an off-spinner. He was a ...

holds the record for most player of the final awards (both in 2012 and 2016).

Team records

Batting records

Bowling records

Fielding records

References

External links

* * {{Main world championships * T20I T20I Recurring sporting events established in 2007