ICC World Twenty20 can be described as the international championship of Twenty20 cricket, which is commonly abridged as T20 cricket. As the name suggests, the game is organized by ICC (International Cricket Council), the governing body of cricket in the world. The inaugural tournament of the ICC T20 World Cup was held in the year 2007, in South Africa.
Twenty20 Cricket World Cup 2007 stretched on from 11th September to 24th September, with India winning the championship, after defeating Pakistan by 5 runs (in Johannesburg). Just like the inaugural event had, all the tournaments of the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup will comprise of 12 teams, which will include all the Test-playing nations. Right now, it is expected that the world cup will held around every two years.
Qualification
Talking about the qualification for playing the ICC Twenty20 World Cup, all the Test-playing nations receive the same automatically. As for the rest of the places in the 12-teams championship, they are filled by ICC associate member nations, also known as qualifiers, on the basis of a qualification tournament. In 2007, there were two qualifiers - Scotland and Kenya. In the 2009 tournament, there are three qualifiers - Ireland, the Netherlands and Scotland.
Hosts
The hosts of ICC T20 Cricket World Cup are decided on the basis of the bids made by the nations interested in holding the championship. It is the executive committee of International Cricket Council (ICC) that votes on the bids, selecting the host country. It had been decided that the first two tournaments will be held in South Africa and England, since they had opted the T20 format in the earliest stages only. The hosts of ICC Twenty20 World Cup, till 2014, have and will be:
2007 - South Africa
2009 - England
2010 - West Indies
2012 - Sri Lanka
2014 - Bangladesh
Main Twenty20 World Cup Records (Individual & Team)
Batting
Most Runs: 265, by Matthew Hayden (2007)
Highest Average: 107.00, by Brendan Taylor (2007)
Highest Score: 117, by Chris Gayle (2007)
Highest Partnership: 145, by Chris Gayle & Dwayne Smith (1st Wicket - 2007)
Most Runs in a Tournament: 265, by Matthew Hayden (2007)
Bowling
Best Average: 5.00, Ramnaresh Sarwan (2007)
Best Figures: 4/7, by Mark Gillespie (2007)
Most Wickets in a Tournament: 13, by Umar Gul (2007)
Fielding
Most Dismissals (wicket-keeper): 9, by Adam Gilchrist (2007)
Most Catches (fielder): 6, by AB de Villiers (2007)
Team
Highest Score: 260/6, by Sri Lanka (2007)
Lowest Score: 73 all out, by Kenya (2007)
