Introduction of T20 Cricket

Back in 2002, when the Benson & Hedges Cup that was held in England came to an end and with no Cricket on offer for the next 1 year, the crowds needed something more. To attract more audience, especially young people, they decided to bring no new short version of the game- The T20 Cricket. T20 Cricket was nothing but a match between the sides with teams getting 20-overs each. Due to the fast moving nature of the game, Cricket suddenly became a lot more competitive and this sport started to shift it's balance towards the batters. The new rules like field restrictions & free-hit were introduced to help the scoring.

This trend was followed by Pakistan who introduced Faysal Bank 20/20 league. It was the first ever T20 league in the history of Cricket after England's version of T20 tournament. Inspired from this, Australia & West Indies also started their own T20 leagues. The ICC saw this as an opportunity to globalize the sport. They started convincing the boards of the respective countries to start playing T20 Cricket at International level and not just keep it at the domestic level.

The first ever T20 International (T20I) game actually took place in Women's Cricket. On 5th August 2004, New Zealand Women's beat England Women's in a close game by nine runs. The first ever Men's T20I was held between Australia & New Zealand at the Eden Park in Auckland on 17th February 2005. Australia beat New Zealand quite comprehensively by 44 runs!

England, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, South Africa & West Indies soon played their 1st T20I game. By the end of 2006, it was only India who had not played T20 Cricket. There was a little bit of excitement regarding the format but the BCCI were not really into it. They eventually agreed to play South Africa in December 2006.

Now just like the ODI Cricket, the question of a T20 Champion had arrived. On 15th April 2007, it was decided that 12 nations will become a part of a T20 Championship that would begin on 11th September 2007. This tournament would be known as the World T20 and the eventual winners would be termed as T20 World Champions. This tournament was to be held once in every 2 years.

 The Indian senior players however were not up for this fast format as they opted out of the inaugural tournament. Wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni was given the Indian Captaincy. With the kind of approach, India were up for an exit in the Super 8's itself. However, Dhoni's unorthodox Captaincy and the belief he created into the side helped India beat Pakistan by 5 runs in the Finals!

In one of the game of the WT20 between India & Pakistan, there was a tie and the result of the match was decided by a bowl-out where 5 bowlers had to hit the stumps while bowling. The one who hit the stumps the most number of times out of the 5 chances they had would win the contest. The bowl-out was eventually scrapped in 2008 and was replaced by a one-over eliminator known as the Super Over.