Origins

Former England batsman Andrew Strauss batting for Middlesex against Surrey

When the Benson & Hedges Cup ended in 2002, the ECB needed another one-day competition to fill its place. Cricketing authorities were looking to boost the game's popularity with the younger generation in response to dwindling crowds and reduced sponsorship. It was intended to deliver fast-paced, exciting cricket accessible to thousands of 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 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.^[2]

The first official Twenty20 matches were played on 13 June 2003 between the English counties in the Twenty20 Cup.^[3] 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.^[4] 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.^[5]

Spread worldwide

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.^[6]

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 US$28,000,000 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 US$1,000,000 in prize money.^[7][8]

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.^[9] 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^[10] against the ODI World Champions.

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 US$280,000 prize money.^[11][12] 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 US$20,000,000 in each match. The Stanford Superstars won the first match,^[13] but no further fixtures were held as Allen Stanford was charged with fraud in 2009.^[14]

T20 leagues

Crowd during a match of the 2015 IPL season in Hyderabad, India

Several T20 leagues started after the popularity of the 2007 ICC World Twenty20.^[15] 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^[16] were sold to Star India for US$2.55 billion,^[17] 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.^[18]

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.^[19][20] 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^[21] 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.^[22]

Twenty20 Internationals

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.^[23]

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.^[24]

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,^[25] and in 2018, announced that it will give international status to all T20 cricket matches played between its member nations.^[26] This resulted in a significant leap in the number of T20I matches played across the world.^[27][28]

Impact on the game

Twenty20 matches can have some exciting displays, such as when the batsmen run out to the pitch

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.^[31] Matthew Hayden credited retirement from international cricket with aiding his performance in general and fitness in particular in the Indian Premier League.^[32]

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.^[33][25]

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, on the other hand, has criticized Twenty20 as being detrimental to Test cricket and for hampering batsmen's scoring skills and concentration.^[34] 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.^[35][36]

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.^{[37][38][39][40][41]}

Inclusion in multi-sport events

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."^[43] This became a reality starting with the 2028 Summer Olympics. T20 cricket has also been accepted into the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.^[44]

Format

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.^[45]

Middlesex playing against Surrey at Lord's, in front of a 28,000-strong crowd

General rules

The Laws of cricket apply to Twenty20, with major exceptions:^[46]

• 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.
• 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.

Tie deciders

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^[47] or Super Over:^[48][49] 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.^[50][51] 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.^[52] The latest Super Over to decide a match was between the Sydney Sixers and the Brisbane Heat on 25 January 2017, in the Big Bash League at the Brisbane Cricket Ground, with the Sixers winning 0/22 to 0/15 in the Super Over after tying on 164.^[53]

Tied Twenty20 matches were previously decided by a bowl-out.^[54]

T20 International rankings

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.^[55][56]

The ICC Women's Rankings were launched in October 2015, which aggregated performance over all three forms of the game.^[57] In October 2018, the ICC announced that the women's ranking would be split between ODIs and T20Is, and released both tables shortly thereafter.^[58]

ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings
Rank	Team	Matches	Points	Rating
1	India	68	18,041	265
2	England	48	12,305	256
3	New Zealand	55	13,988	254
4	Pakistan	53	13,325	251
5	Australia	39	9,760	250
6	South Africa	37	9,210	249
7	West Indies	44	10,800	245
8	Sri Lanka	38	8,940	235
9	Bangladesh	46	10,452	227
10	Afghanistan	34	7,443	219
11	Namibia	28	5,539	198
12	Ireland	47	9,117	194
13	Zimbabwe	50	9,576	192
14	Scotland	18	3,412	190
15	Netherlands	19	3,445	181
16	Nepal	27	4,796	178
17	United Arab Emirates	38	6,623	174
18	Oman	24	3,678	153
19	Papua New Guinea	22	3,173	144
20	Canada	18	2,528	140
21	Hong Kong	28	3,740	134
22	Uganda	65	8,602	132
23	United States	9	1,183	131
24	Jersey	19	2,427	128
25	Malaysia	41	5,132	125
26	Kuwait	28	3,360	120
27	Bahrain	36	3,972	110
28	Qatar	18	1,964	109
29	Kenya	44	4,697	107
30	Bermuda	14	1,494	107
31	Italy	17	1,712	101
32	Saudi Arabia	20	1,992	100
33	Tanzania	49	4,727	96
34	Spain	18	1,649	92
35	Germany	33	3,022	92
36	Singapore	28	2,209	79
37	Guernsey	16	1,212	76
38	Nigeria	30	2,261	75
39	Portugal	16	1,167	73
40	Cayman Islands	11	790	72
41	Denmark	23	1,622	71
42	Belgium	18	1,237	69
43	Isle of Man	15	949	63
44	Cambodia	11	690	63
45	Austria	29	1,682	58
46	Norway	15	852	57
47	Vanuatu	15	846	56
48	Botswana	29	1,543	53
49	Finland	18	953	53
50	Switzerland	16	835	52
51	Japan	15	768	51
52	Malawi	19	933	49
53	Czech Republic	24	1,101	46
54	France	16	730	46
55	Indonesia	22	993	45
56	Sweden	18	759	42
57	Philippines	17	698	41
58	Romania	28	1,149	41
59	Cook Islands	6	245	41
60	Argentina	11	424	39
61	Mozambique	24	864	36
62	Malta	44	1,535	35
63	Rwanda	70	2,255	32
64	Ghana	31	968	31
65	Fiji	10	304	30
66	Bhutan	11	325	30
67	Luxembourg	30	845	28
68	Sierra Leone	28	766	27
69	Cyprus	8	206	26
70	Bahamas	10	241	24
71	Belize	3	66	22
72	Hungary	19	367	19
73	Panama	11	206	19
74	Thailand	14	205	15
75	Serbia	19	214	14
76	Gibraltar	30	385	13
77	Bulgaria	30	289	10
78	Lesotho	9	82	9
79	Estonia	11	60	5
80	Turkey	7	26	4
81	Maldives	16	44	3
82	Cameroon	14	25	2
83	Gambia	9	11	1
84	Eswatini	18	0	0
85	Seychelles	7	0	0
86	Samoa	9	0	0
87	Mali	8	0	0
88	Croatia	10	0	0
89	Greece	6	0	0
References: ICC T20I rankings, As of 2 January 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
Rank	Team	Matches	Points	Rating
1	Australia	25	7,426	297
2	England	30	8,447	282
3	India	40	10,417	260
4	New Zealand	27	6,904	256
5	South Africa	26	6,309	243
6	West Indies	27	6,340	235
7	Sri Lanka	31	6,988	225
8	Pakistan	33	7,279	221
9	Bangladesh	30	6,040	201
10	Ireland	27	4,748	176
11	Zimbabwe	21	3,352	160
12	Papua New Guinea	19	2,997	158
13	Thailand	34	5,326	157
14	Scotland	22	3,206	146
15	Netherlands	25	3,073	123
16	United Arab Emirates	41	4,845	118
17	Namibia	31	3,574	115
18	Uganda	44	4,894	111
19	Indonesia	16	1,648	103
20	Tanzania	27	2,717	101
21	Nepal	27	2,611	97
22	Hong Kong	37	3,364	91
23	United States	13	1,054	81
24	Kenya	36	2,657	74
25	Rwanda	33	2,342	71
26	Malaysia	34	2,369	70
27	Italy	20	1,319	66
28	Jersey	13	839	65
29	Nigeria	29	1,794	62
30	Vanuatu	18	1,101	61
31	Canada	9	513	57
32	Greece	11	613	56
33	Germany	15	766	51
34	Isle of Man	11	549	50
35	Spain	6	256	43
36	France	23	973	42
37	Brazil	20	846	42
38	Sweden	16	586	37
39	Sierra Leone	15	518	35
40	China	9	256	28
41	Myanmar	10	275	28
42	Botswana	25	641	26
43	Bhutan	9	219	24
44	Singapore	24	532	22
45	Bahrain	8	164	21
46	Oman	4	81	20
47	Kuwait	14	282	20
48	Mozambique	9	154	17
49	Malta	6	100	17
50	Romania	13	207	16
51	Guernsey	8	95	12
52	Samoa	16	164	10
53	Japan	20	204	10
54	Cameroon	12	111	9
55	Cook Islands	6	53	9
56	Argentina	20	150	8
57	Denmark	5	29	6
58	Qatar	17	61	4
59	Austria	21	46	2
60	Cambodia	13	28	2
61	Norway	11	3	0
62	Eswatini	9	0	0
63	Serbia	7	0	0
64	Philippines	12	0	0
65	Ghana	7	0	0
66	Fiji	16	0	0
References: ICC Women's T20I Rankings, Updated on 29 December 2023