Everything You Need to Know About Twenty20 Cricket
For all the cricket lovers out there, Twenty20 format cricket has always been a great cricket companion. It has changed the whole scenario of the cricket world. So, Today we'll go in-depth about Twenty20 cricket, how it started, the stages it has gone through everything.
What Exactly is Twenty20 Cricket?
T20 is an abbreviated game form of cricket. It's a short cricket match confined to only 20 overs and completed in just180 minutes. Here each innings takes just 90 minutes to complete with 10 minutes intervals between the innings. In no lesser time T20, cricket tournaments have become the most Prominent and admired tournaments.
International Cricket Council has acknowledged the T20 to be the highest international or Domestic level of cricket. Almost all Test-playing countries have their own Domestic T20 cup and even internationally many T20 matches take place.
How T20 Cricket Format begin?
T20 cricket was launched by England and Cricket Wales Board (ECB) in 2003. The youth of the country got bored by the longer versions of the cricket so, Stuart Robinson who was the marketing manager of ECB suggested a 20-over-per-innings game, this idea got accepted. And the First T20 matches were played among English Countries in the Twenty20 cup. Finally, this format spread globally and T20 cricket has now become popular all over the world with ICC World T20.
Different T20 Cricket Tournaments:
After the successful implementation of the T20 World Cup in 2007 by ICC, many Leagues were introduced. In 2008 India started Indian Premier League(IPL) which is the most popular and biggest league. It follows the franchise system through which domestic and global players are selected having eight teams from major cities (from 2022 there are 10 teams).
Following the same footsteps, others leagues were started: Big Bash League, Bangladesh League, Caribbean Premier League, Afghan Premier League.
Starting in 2005, Twenty20 International(T20I) observes the same rules of the T20 Format. T20I matches are played between two of the international members of 'International Cricket Council (ICC)' where each team has to go through a maximum of 20 overs.
The First Inaugural event of T20 was held at Eden Park in Auckland on 17th February 2005 where Australia had a victory over New Zealand. And then the first T20 tournament happened two years later as ICC T20 World Cup. The Popularity of T20 Internationals increased so much that in 2016 for the first time, more Twenty20 matches took place than ODI. Also as of November 2021, 90 countries have occupied their position in the T20I team rankings.
- ICC World Twenty20 World Cup (ICC T20)
This is the most demanding T20 cricket match. Starting in 2007, the T20 World cup takes place every two years. Though due to Covid, the tournament was postponed in 2020 and it took place in 2021. An inaugural event took happened in South Africa where India conquered Pakistan by 5 runs.
ICC organizes the Twenty20 World Cup Tournament, it comprises 16 teams where 10 teams are selected from the rankings at the given deadline and six teams are selected from the T20 World Cup qualifier. And till now West Indies has been the most successful team and Australia is the current winner of the latest season of 2021 and now the upcoming matches will be played in 2022 in Australia.
Rules of T20 Cricket
As already discussed above, the T20 format is restricted to just 20 overs with a single inning. Let's go through the detailed procedure:
- Each bowler has a chance of a maximum four overs
- If a bowler gives a no-ball by overstepping his marked area, this penalizes a bowler and his next delivery will be considered a "free hit" i.e. the batsman will be on a safer side and is not dismissed for that delivery. He is only discarded when he is run out.
Fielding Rules
- Only five fielders can be on the leg side at any time.
- At the time of the first six overs, a maximum of two fielders can be outside the 30 yards circle.
- And after the first six overs, five fielders can be outside the fielding circle.
Time Limit of 75 minutes
The bowling team has to mandatorily complete their 20 overs in 75 minutes. If the bowling team fails to start its 20th over in 75 minutes, then the batting team is given the bonus of six runs for every whole over bowled after75-minute trace.
