The ninth edition of the T20 World Cup is set to be played from June 1 to June 29 in the West Indies and the USA. The United States is hosting an ICC event for the first time while the mega event in the shortest format is being played in the Caribbean for the first time since 2010.
T20 World Cup is played every two years with England winning the tournament in 2022, the edition that was played in Australia. A total of six countries have lifted a T20 World Cup trophy since its inaugural edition in 2007. Only England and West Indies have won the tournament twice and it remains to be seen if a new winner will be crowned this time around.
Most sixes at the T20 World Cup
In a bid to make the sport global, ICC has expanded the tournament to 20 teams this time around with several countries participating for the first time. These teams have been split into four groups of five each. Top two teams from each of these groups will qualify for the Super 8 round. At this stage, the teams will be divided into two groups of four each.
Top two teams from these groups will make it to the knockouts that are scheduled to be played on June 26 and 27 in Trinidad and Guyana respectively. The grand final is set to take place on June 29 (Saturday) at the Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados as the new T20 World Champions will be crowned in front of a packed house.
India will be playing their 200th T20I match today.
The greatest moment in Indian T20 history is winning the World Cup under Dhoni in 2007. pic.twitter.com/ZWXzI5Rpnf
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) August 3, 2023
T20 World Cup winners
T20 World Cup 2007 – India
India won the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup back in 2007 under the leadership of MS Dhoni. A young inexperienced squad was sent for the mega event played in South Africa and they created history defying all the odds. India defeated Pakistan in the final by just five runs to lift the trophy.
Gautam Gambhir was the top run-scorer for India amassing 227 runs in six innings at an average of 37.83 with three fifties to his name. Apart from Yuvraj Singh was the star smashing six sixes off Stuart Broad and also played a match-winning knock in the semifinal against Australia. With the ball, RP Singh and Irfan Pathan played major roles in India’s runs to the title as the duo picked 12 and 10 wickets respectively. The current India skipper Rohit Sharma is the only active player from that winning squad and he played a crucial hand scoring 88 runs in three innings at a strike rate of 144.26.
Gambhir was the star player in the final for India scoring 75 runs off 54 balls while Rohit provided a strong finish with an unbeaten 30 off 16 balls. India posted 157 runs in their 20 overs and ended up defending it successfully. RP Singh and Irfan Pathan were the stars in the final picking up three wickets each with the latter winning the player of the match award.
T20 World Cup 2009 – Pakistan
After missing out in the inaugural edition, Pakistan made amends to win the T20 World Cup in 2009 with Younis Khan as captain. They didn’t start well losing to England in the group stage but made it to Super 8 round with an 82-run win over Ireland. Even in the next round, they lost to Sri Lanka in their first game but came back well beating New Zealand and Ireland and qualified for the semis where they got the better of South Africa by seven runs.
It was an all Asian final between Sri Lanka and Pakistan at Lord’s and the latter side prevailed under pressure chasing down 139 runs easily with eight wickets in hand. Kamran Akmal was the top-scorer for Pakistan scoring 188 runs seven innings while Umar Gul ended as the top wicket-taker picking 13 scalps. Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal also supported him well picking up 11 and 12 wickets respectively.
Pakistan restricted Sri Lanka in the final for just 138 runs despite Kumar Sangakkara playing a fighting knock of unbeaten 64 runs. Abdul Razzaq shone with the ball picking up 3/20. In response, Shahid Afridi led the way with the bat as he scored an unbeaten 54 to lead Pakistan to memorable victory.
T20 World Cup 2010 – England
The third edition of the T20 World Cup was played in the Caribbean for the first time and England prevailed in alien conditions to lift the trophy for the first time. The Paul Collingwood-led side couldn’t win a single game in the group stage as they lost to the West Indies and the game against Ireland washed out. But on the basis of better NRR, they qualified and then didn’t look back.
England won all their Super 8 round matches beating Pakistan, New Zealand and South Africa. They defeated Sri Lanka in the semifinal by seven wickets and then got the better of arch-rivals Australia in the title clash by same margin to lift the trophy. Kevin Pietersen was the best batter for them scoring 248 runs in six innings while Graeme Swann and Ryan Sidebottom both picked up 10 wickets each.
In the final, David Hussey smashed 59 runs to take Australia to 147 from a precarious position of 8/3 in 2.1 overs. But Craig Kieswetter and Kevin Pietersen smashed 63 and 47 runs respectively to help them gun down the target in just 17 overs with seven wickets in hand.
T20 World Cup 2012 – West Indies
West Indies defied all the odds to win the T20 World Cup in 2012 in Sri Lanka. Interestingly, like England in 2010, even the Caribbeans didn’t win a single group game as they lost to Australia and their game against Ireland was washed out. Even in Super 8 round, the West Indies had to fight hard their must-win game against New Zealand ended in a tie and they qualified for the semifinal via super over.
Then they got the better of Australia comfortably in the semifinal by posting a mammoth total of 205 runs and won by 74 runs. Marlon Samuels played the knock of his life in the final when his team was struggling at 14/2 after six overs to take them to 137 in 20 overs. West Indies managed to defend the subpar total against the hosts Sri Lanka and won the final comfortably by 36 runs.
Samuels and Gayle were the major scorers with the bat smashing 230 and 222 runs respectively. Sunil Narine and Ravi Rampaul picked up nine wickets each for the Caribbeans in their winning run.
T20 World Cup 2014 – Sri Lanka
After losing multiple finals, Sri Lanka finally realised their dream of winning the T20 World Cup in the 2014 edition that was played in Bangladesh. They defeated India in the low-scoring one-sided final with Dinesh Chandimal leading them to glory. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara signed off on a high in their respective careers with this glory.
In their journey, Sri Lanka defeated South Africa, Netherlands and New Zealand to make it to the semifinals. They defeated the West Indies in the semis before taking down the MS Dhoni-led Indian side in the title clash. Sri Lanka chased down the target of 131 runs with six wickets and 13 balls in hand to lift the trophy for the first and only time in history.
Mahela Jayawardene was their leading run-scorer amassing 158 runs in six matches while Nuwan Kulasekara was exceptional with the ball for them picking up eight wickets. In fact, it was a collective team effort from them as none of their players was the top run-scorer or top wicket-taker in the tournament.
T20 World Cup 2016 – West Indies
West Indies were back again at the helm winning the T20 World Cup for the second time in the history. They became the first team to win the trophy twice in history and this time, won the tournament in India. The Caribbeans, led by Darren Sammy, took down teams like England, Sri Lanka and South Africa in the group before losing to Afghanistan but made it to the semifinal comfortably.
In the knockout clash, they chased a mammoth target of 193 runs in the last over thriller against the hosts India who were led by MS Dhoni for the last time in an ICC event. West Indies then historically beat England with Carlos Brathwaite smashing four sixes in the final over off Ben Stokes to lift the title.
They gunned down the target of 156 runs despite reeling at 11/3 in the third over of the chase. Once again, Samuels played a key role smashing an unbeaten 85 off 65 balls while Brathwaite scored an unbeaten 34 off just 10 balls to win them the trophy in the last over.
As far as the top performers are concerned, Samuels scored 181 runs in six innings and was the highest run-getter for the West Indies. Samuel Badree, Andre Russell and Dwayne Bravo were joint highest wicket-takers picking up nine wickets each in the tournament.
T20 World Cup 2021 – Australia
It took five years for the seventh edition of T20 World Cup to take place. The mega event was earlier scheduled to take place in 2020 but COVID-19 breakout led to the ICC postponing the tournament. Even though it happened in 2021, the competition was moved to the UAE as the original hosts India were still battling the COVID virus.
Australia defied all the odds to win the tournament under Aaron Finch’s leadership. They lost only one game, against England, and won against South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, West Indies to make it to the semifinal. In the knockout clash, Matthew Wade turned out to be the hero for them as he took down Shaheen Afridi as Australia beat Pakistan chasing a mammoth total.
The title clash against arch-rivals New Zealand turned out to be one-sided. The Aussie chased down 173 runs without breaking a sweat with seven balls and eight wickets in hand. David Warner was the highest run-scorer for the Men in Yellow with 289 runs in seven innings at an average of 48.16 and a strike-rate of 146.70 with three fifties. With the ball, it was a collective effort from Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood who picked up 11 wickets each.
T20 World Cup 2022 – England
The eighth and previous edition of the T20 World Cup happened in Australia but the hosts and the defending champions couldn’t even make it to the semis this time. Instead their arch-rivals, England stepped up to win the tournament beating Pakistan in the final. They started their campaign with a comfortable win over Afghanistan before shocking losing to Ireland and their next game against Australia was washed out.
However, from here on, England got the better of New Zealand and Sri Lanka to book their spot in the semifinal against hot-favourites India. However, Jos Buttler and his men trounced Rohit Sharma-led men in blue by 10 wickets chasing down almost 170 without even breaking a sweat. It all came down the final against Pakistan and England did it with ease chasing 138 runs with five wickets and six balls in hand.
Captain led from the front for the Brits as Buttler scored 225 runs in just six innings at an average of 45 and a strike rate of 144.23 with two fifties to his name. Another player who was in-form was Alex Hales scoring 212 at a strike rate of 147.22. Sam Curran was the best bowler picking up 13 wickets in just six matches for the eventual champions.
England will be keen on becoming the first team to win the T20 World Cup three times and they have almost the same personnel this time around. In fact, the team seems to be stronger with the arrival of Jofra Archer and Phil Salt in their line-up boosting the bowling and batting attacks respectively.
