When the local 50-over domestic tournament in England ended its sponsorship, the ECB were desperate for another limited over competition to fill its place. Stuart Robertson, the marketing manager of the ECB, then proposed a 20-over side tournament to boost the game's popularity with the younger generation in response to dwindling crowds and reduced sponsorship. On 13 June 2003 the first-ever T20 matches were played between English counties for the Twenty20 Cup.
- Within 20 months of the inaugural T20 tournament in England, the first international in this format was played in Auckland on 17 Feb 2005 between hosts, New Zealand and Australia. The latter won by 44 runs! And within 30 months of the first T20 international the first World T20 championship was held in September 2007 in South Africa.
- The first ever national T20 tournament, then known as the Interstate Twenty20 competition, was organised by the BCCI from 3 April 2007. Tamil Nadu was the inaugural winner when they defeated Punjab by 2 wickets in the final at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on 21 April 2007.
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- Rohit Sharma is the first Indian to register a three-figure score in a T20 match. He hit a 45-ball unbeaten 101 for Mumbai against Gujarat at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on 4 April 2007. This incidentally was the only century that was recorded during the inaugural Interstate T20 competition of 2007.
- Shreyas Iyer’s 147 for Mumbai against Sikkim at Indore on 21 Feb 2019 is the highest individual score by an Indian batter in the T20 format.
Brendon McCullum was the first batter to have scored more than 150 runs in an innings in T20 cricket. | Photo Credit: K. BHAGYA PRAKASH
- Nottinghamshire’s Jason Gallian during his knock of 62 in 48 balls became the first batter in T20 cricket to reach a fifty-plus score. He achieved this against Durham at Chester-le-Street on 13 June 2003.
- Australian Ian Harvey has the distinction of registering the first three-figure score in T20 cricket. He achieved this while playing for Gloucestershire against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in Birmingham on 23 June 2003. His unbeaten 100 came in 50 balls!
- West Indian Chris Gayle has hit 22 centuries in his T20 career. Following him are three others (all Australians) Michael Klinger, David Warner and Aaron Finch – with just eight centuries each!
- Only three players have the distinction of registering two scores of 150+ in T20 cricket. Australian Aaron Finch (156 & 172), West Indian Chris Gayle (175 n.o. & 151 n.o.) and New Zealander Brendon McCullum (158 n.o. & 158 n.o.). However, Finch is the only one to do so in the international T20 format.
- Brendon McCullum during his unbeaten 158 for Kolkata Knight Riders against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the inaugural IPL match on 18 April 2008, became the first batter to register a 150+ score in T20 cricket history.
- Chris Gayle during his entire T20 cricket career since 2005 spanning 455 innings and 10060 balls has hit 1056 sixes. This means he has managed to hit 2.32 sixes every innings he batted or a six every 9.52 balls he faced!
- Chris Gayle has also hit the maximum boundaries in his T20 career – 2188 (1056 sixes + 1132 fours), ie 4.80 boundaries every innings or a boundary every 4.60 balls.
Boundary-hitting expert: Nearly 75 percent of Chris Gayle’s runs in T20s have come in boundaries. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
- Chris Gayle has accumulated 10864 runs (6336 runs in sixes and 4528 runs in fours) in boundaries in his T20 career. His runs in boundaries are nearly 75% of the total career runs (14562) he made in his T20 career.
- Chris Gayle is the only batter to hit over 50 sixes in the WorldT20 tournament. He has hit 63. The next best is Yuvraj Singh with just 33 sixes. Rohit Sharma and David Warner, among current players have hit 31 sixes each.
- Chris Gayle for nearly four years from Feb 2012 to Feb 2016 went through 145 innings without being dismissed on a duck in his T20 career! However, overall he has been dismissed on 30 occasions before opening his account in T20 cricket. Incidentally, only Sunil Narine and Rashid Khan (both with 36 ducks) have been dismissed for a blob on more occasions than Gayle in T20 cricket!
- South African wicket-keeper Mark Boucher has the distinction of never being dismissed for a duck in his entire T20 career spanning 76 innings from 2004 to 2012.
- Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene is only batter in WT20 cricket to aggregate over 1000 career runs (1016). Among current players, India’s Rohit Sharma (847) and Virat Kohli (845) are the leading run-getters.
- Medium pacer James Ormond’s 5 for 26 for Surrey against Middlesex at the Oval makes him the first bowler in T20 cricket to claim a five-wicket haul.
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- Himachal Pradesh’s medium pacer Nischal Gaur has the distinction of becoming the first Indian bowler to claim a five-wicket haul in a T20 match. His 5 for 28 in his 4 overs came against Delhi at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi on 3 April 2007.
Mahela Jayawardene is the only batter to have scored more than 1000 runs in T20 World Cups. Among current players, India’s Rohit Sharma (847) and Virat Kohli (845) are the leading run-getters in the competition. | Photo Credit: AFP
- L. Balaji has the distinction of becoming the first Indian bowler to claim a hat-trick in T20 cricket. He achieved this feat in an IPL match for the Chennai Super Kings against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in Chennai on 10 May 2008.
- Namibian paceman David Wiese has the honour of claiming the most five-wicket hauls in the T20 cricket history – six in all in 239 innings from 2008 to date. Sri Lankan Lasith Malinga has five such hauls. However, Malinga has the most four-wicket hauls – 15.
- West Indian Sunil Narine has the distinction of delivering the maximum number of maiden overs in a T20 career. So far, in 433 matches he has managed 27 maidens since his debut in this format in 2011. Among Indians, Praveen Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah have the most – 19 maidens each!
- Australia has the unique distinction of winning the inaugural international match across formats - beat England by 45 runs at Melbourne on 19 March 1877 (in Tests), beat England by five wickets at Melbourne on 5 Jan 1971 (ODIs) and beat New Zealand by 44 runs at Auckland on 17 Feb 2005 (T20Is).
- Zimbabwe defeated Australia by five wickets and with one ball to spare at Cape Town on 12 Sep 2007 which was the first ever head-to-head T20I game between the two sides. In the inaugural head-to-head ODI game between these two sides at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on 9 June 1983, Zimbabwe once again was the victors by 13 runs!
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- MS Dhoni has the unique distinction of captaining every game (33 matches) India has played in the first six editions of the WT20 from 2007 to 2016. This is by far the most captained by any player in WT20 history (the next best is 18 matches by West Indian Daren Sammy).
- MS Dhoni is the only player in T20 cricket history to captain various sides in over 250 matches. West Indian all-rounder Daren Sammy is the next best with 208 matches, while MSD has led sides in 306 games! MSD has led in a record 179 occasions in won games.
Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan (in picture) and Rohit Sharma have played in all seven T20 World Cups held so far. The 2022 edition will mark their eighth appearance in the tournament. | Photo Credit: AFP
- Suresh Raina is the only player in T20 cricket history to appear for one team in 150+ consecutive matches. For nearly ten years from 19 April 2008 to 10 April 2018, Raina appeared in 158 matches in a row for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL and in the Champions League competitions.
- India's Rohit Sharma and Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan, who have played in all seven previous editions of the T20 World Cup since 2007, will be the first players to feature in eight editions of the tournament.
- Sri Lanka has appeared in most WT20 matches - 43 in all, followed by Pakistan (40) and India and England (38 each).
- Sri Lanka has won maximum WT20 matches - 28 in all, followed by India and Pakistan (24 each).
- Bangladesh has lost most WT20 games - 25, followed by England (18) and New Zealand (17).
- West Indies are the only side to win the WT20 title on two occasions - in 2012 and 2016. This means the side from the Caribbean has won two 60-over World Cups (in 1975 and 1979) and two WorldT20 titles, but is yet to win a 50-over WC. Therefore, India remain the only side to win all the World Cups across all limited over formats – 60 overs (in 1983), 50 overs (in 2011) and 20 overs (in 2007)
- Sri Lanka is the only side to reach the WT20 final on three occasions. They won the final once (in 2014), but lost twice (in 2009 and 2012).
- South Africa among the top Test nations is the only side not to reach a WT20 final. On two occasions they lost in the semifinals in 2009 and 2014.
- No host nation has ever won a WT20 title. Sri Lanka is the nearest to do so but they lost in the final to the West Indies at Premadasa, Colombo in the 2012 edition of the WT20.
- The seventh edition of the WT20 2021 was held in Oman and UAE. This was the first time a WT20 event was held outside a Test-playing country.
- With Australia hosting the 2022 edition of the WT20, now among the top cricketing nations not to host any WT20 events are New Zealand and Pakistan. The former, however, will be jointly hosting the event with Australia in 2028 (the 11th edition).
- West Indian Chris Gayle while appearing for several sides has won 60 Player of the match awards, which constitutes nearly 13% of 463 matches he has appeared in this T20 career from 2005 to 2022. South African AB de Villiers is the next best with just 42 MoM awards in his career!
- Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan has appeared in the maximum number of WorldT20 matches (35). He appeared in six successive editions from 2007 to 2016. Among current players, India’s Rohit Sharma has appeared in 33 games and will soon overtake Dilshan’s record tally in the forthcoming WT20 in Australia.
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