T20 World Cup
Who is hosting the 2028 and 2030 ICC Men’s T20 World Cups?
Who won the first ICC Men’s T20 World Cup?
How is T20 cricket different from regular cricket?
Why was there no T20 World Cup in 2018?
What is India and Pakistan’s head-to-head record in T20 World Cups?
Why is the India-Pakistan cricket rivalry so famous?
What was notable about the 2016 T20 World Cup for West Indies?
What does T20 mean for cricket?
The ICC T20 World Cup is a biennial Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket competition organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC), the governing body for the sport, in both men’s and women’s categories. The first men’s ICC World Twenty20 (now the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup) was held in 2007 in South Africa. India won the inaugural competition after defeating Pakistan in the final. The first ICC Women’s World Twenty20 (now the Women’s T20 World Cup) was held in 2009 and won by the host country, England.
History
While the basic rules of the T20 format mirror those of the longer versions of the sport, it limits each innings to 20 overs per side. One over consists of six consecutive legal deliveries, the maximum number allowed from a single bowler before a mandatory change of bowler must be made. A single player can bowl a maximum of four overs in one match. The T20 format is much shorter compared with the One Day International (ODI) format (50 overs a side) or five-day Test format (90 overs a day). The reduced duration prompted teams to favor attacking tactics and fast scoring, which made matches more exciting to watch, revolutionizing cricket and increasing its popularity among a wider global audience. T20 is credited with reviving cricket in the 21st century. Despite initial skepticism, teams began to master the new skills demanded by the shorter version and to improve their fielding, throwing, and fitness.
By 2025 the ICC had granted official T20I-playing status to more than 100 member countries. These countries are eligible to participate in the T20 World Cup qualification process, comprising subregional, regional, and continental qualifying stages. The short format’s growing popularity is reflected in the expansion of its World Cup roster. Starting with 12 competing teams in 2007, the 2014 edition expanded to 16 teams. The 2024 T20 Men’s World Cup saw the number increased to 20 teams. In 2021 the ICC announced the hosts of future editions of the T20 World Cup. Australia and New Zealand were chosen as cohosts for the 2022 and 2028 tournaments, the United States and West Indies were selected as cohosts for the 2024 competition, the 2026 edition was held in India and Sri Lanka, and the 2030 competition will be played across England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Memorable moments at the Men’s T20 World Cups
The cricket rivalry between India and Pakistan has produced some of the game’s most thrilling moments at T20 World Cups.
- 2007: Needing only six runs off four balls to win the 2007 World Twenty20, Pakistani batter Misbah-ul-Haq was caught out while attempting an unconventional shot, handing India the inaugural title by a margin of five runs.
- 2021: Pakistan scored its only win in eight T20 World Cup encounters against India.
- 2022: Indian captain Virat Kohli scored 82 runs off 54 balls to lead his team to a last-ball victory in the Super 12 stage of the tournament.
- 2024: In a group-stage match, Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah took three crucial wickets to help India defend its relatively low score of 119 and win by six runs.
- 2026: The Pakistani government announced that its team would boycott the group-stage match against India but ultimately reversed its stance after a series of talks between the Pakistan Cricket Board and the ICC.
The ICC Men’s T20 World Cups have consistently produced dramatic tiebreakers and fiercely competitive matches. This timeline lists key moments in the Men’s T20 World Cup history.
2007: Yuvraj Singh’s six in six and India-Pakistan bowl-out
During India’s group stage match against England, Indian batter Yuvraj Singh hit all six deliveries in an over from English fast bowler Stuart Broad for six runs (the batting side is awarded six runs in a delivery if a batter hits the ball outside the boundary of the playing field without it touching the ground). Singh became the first batter to achieve the feat in T20Is and reached the 50-run milestone in just 12 balls, setting a record (later broken) for scoring the fastest half-century in the format.
Earlier in the tournament India and Pakistan’s group stage match ended with both teams scoring the same number of runs in their allotted 20 overs, forcing a tiebreaker. Per the tournament rules, the winner of tied matches was decided by a bowl-out, in which five players from each team bowl one delivery each at an unguarded set of stumps; the team that hits the stumps more often wins. India won the match after three of its players managed to hit the stumps during the bowl-out, while all the Pakistani bowlers missed the target. The bowl-out tiebreaker system was subsequently replaced by the Super Over system, in which both sides play for an extra six deliveries and the team with the higher score is declared the winner. Thus, the India-Pakistan match is the only time a bowl-out was used in the competition’s history.
2010: England’s first men’s World Cup
England defeated Australia in the final of the tournament to win its first ICC World Cup in any format, ending a trophy drought that stretched back to 1975, when the first ODI World Cup was played.
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This edition was also the first time the men’s and women’s competitions were held together. The women’s semifinals and final were played before the corresponding men’s fixtures at the same venues.
2012: Super Overs
Sri Lanka and New Zealand played the first Super Over (extra over) tiebreaker in the tournament’s history during the Super Eight round (featuring 8 of the 16 teams that advanced past the group stage) of the 2012 World Twenty20, with the former emerging victorious. A few days later New Zealand lost another Super Over decider during a Super Eight match against West Indies.
2014: Third time’s a charm for Sri Lanka
After losing in the finals of the 2009 and 2012 editions, Sri Lanka, in its third tournament final, defeated India to win its first men’s T20 title.
During a match in the preliminary Super 10 stage of the tournament, Sri Lanka had bowled out Netherlands for just 39 runs, the lowest team total in the competition’s history.
2016: Unprecedented double victory for West Indies
West Indies won both the women’s and men’s World Twenty20 titles in finals played on the same day at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. In the men’s final, with West Indies needing 19 runs from the final over, batter Carlos Brathwaite hit English bowler Ben Stokes for four consecutive sixes to win the championship.
2021: Australia joins the champions’ club
The 2018 edition of the tournament was canceled because of scheduling conflicts among multiple cricket-playing countries. Australia, the most successful team in the longer 50-overs-a-side format, won its first T20 World Cup in 2021, after defeating New Zealand in the final. The tournament, originally scheduled for 2020, was postponed to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also the first competition officially named the T20 World Cup rather than the World Twenty20.
Pakistan defeated India in a World Cup match for the first time, ending a run of 12 (7 ODIs and 5 T20Is) consecutive losses in tournaments organized by the ICC.
2022: England becomes the ODI and T20 world champion
Pakistan faced England, the reigning ODI World Cup champion, in a rematch of the 1992 ODI World Cup final. England won the match to become the first team in men’s cricket to hold the ODI and T20I titles at the same time.
During the Super 12 (second group) phase of the tournament, Zimbabwe narrowly defeated Pakistan by one run in a thrilling contest. The unexpected defeat left Pakistan on the brink of elimination. However, Pakistan managed to advance to the knockout stage, and ultimately the final, after South Africa crashed out of the tournament because of an upset loss against the relatively inexperienced Netherlands.
2024: India’s second title, Cummins’s back-to-back hat tricks
India defeated South Africa in the final to win an ICC World Cup after a 13-year drought. The team had last won the 2011 ODI World Cup. The 2024 edition was also the first time the United States hosted the tournament.
Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins took hat tricks (dismissing three opposing batters with three consecutive deliveries) in back-to-back matches against Bangladesh and Afghanistan during the Super Eight stage of the tournament.
2026: India’s record-breaking third title
India became the first team in the tournament’s history to win two consecutive championships, and the first to win the tournament thrice.
Finn Allen (100 runs off 33 balls) scored the fastest century in tournament history during the semifinal against South Africa.
India’s loss to South Africa in the Super Eight stage on February 22 was its first since India lost to England in the semifinals of the 2022 edition. It ended a record 12-match win streak in T20 World Cups for the team.
On February 17, 2026, 19-year-old Canadian batter Yuvraj Samra scored a century during his team’s group-stage match against New Zealand, breaking several records in the process. He became the youngest player to score 100 or more runs in an innings in either the T20 World Cup or ODI World Cup, and was also the first player from an associate nation to score a century in the history of the T20 World Cup.
South Africa and Afghanistan played the first double Super Over in the history of the T20 World Cup on February 11, 2026.
List of T20 World Cup winners
Results of the men’s and women’s T20 World Cups are provided in the tables.
| year | winner | winner's score | runner-up | runner-up's score | result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *The tournament was originally scheduled for 2020 but was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. | |||||
| 2007 | India | 157–5 | Pakistan | 152 | India won by 5 runs |
| 2009 | Pakistan | 139–2 | Sri Lanka | 138–6 | Pakistan won by 8 wickets |
| 2010 | England | 148–3 | Australia | 147–6 | England won by 7 wickets |
| 2012 | West Indies | 137–6 | Sri Lanka | 101 | West Indies won by 36 runs |
| 2014 | Sri Lanka | 134–4 | India | 130–4 | Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets |
| 2016 | West Indies | 161–6 | England | 155–9 | West Indies won by 4 wickets |
| 2021* | Australia | 173–2 | New Zealand | 172–4 | Australia won by 8 wickets |
| 2022 | England | 138–5 | Pakistan | 137–8 | England won by 5 wickets |
| 2024 | India | 176–7 | South Africa | 169–8 | India won by 7 runs |
| 2026 | India | 255–5 | New Zealand | 159 | India won by 96 runs |
| year | winner | winner's score (final) | runner-up | runner-up's score (final) | result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *The 2022 edition was postponed to 2023 because of scheduling conflicts in the cricket calendar. | |||||
| 2009 | England | 86–4 | New Zealand | 85 | England won by 6 wickets |
| 2010 | Australia | 106–8 | New Zealand | 103–6 | Australia won by 3 runs |
| 2012 | Australia | 142–4 | England | 138–9 | Australia won by 4 runs |
| 2014 | Australia | 106–4 | England | 105–8 | Australia won by 6 wickets |
| 2016 | West Indies | 149–2 | Australia | 148–5 | West Indies won by 8 wickets |
| 2018 | Australia | 106–2 | England | 105 | Australia won by 8 wickets |
| 2020 | Australia | 184–4 | India | 99 | Australia won by 85 runs |
| 2023* | Australia | 156–6 | South Africa | 137–6 | Australia won by 19 runs |
| 2024 | New Zealand | 158–5 | South Africa | 126–9 | New Zealand won by 32 runs |
| 2026 | Australia | 153–3 | England | 150–4 | Australia won by 7 wickets |