Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of
Twenty20 cricket
Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
, in which each team plays a single
innings with a maximum of twenty
overs. The matches are played between
international teams recognized by the
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...
(ICC). In the T20I format, each
bowler is restricted to a maximum of four overs. A mandatory
powerplay is taken during the first six overs of an innings.
The first T20I match took place on 17 February 2005 between
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, with the first
ICC T20 World Cup held in
2007. The matches were initially competed between the
full members of the ICC and selected
associate member teams. In April 2018, the ICC announced that it would grant T20I status to matches played amongst any of all its 105 members from 1 January 2019. As of March 2025, 100 nations feature in ICC T20I team rankings. The number of matches of the format increased in the 2010s and more T20I matches (100) were played than
ODI matches (99) for the first time in 2016.
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
has the most number of wins (160) while
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
has played the most number of matches (247).
Rohit Sharma of India holds the record for the most career runs (4,231) and
Tim Southee of
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
holds the record for the most career wickets (164). The highest individual score is 172, made by
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
's
Aaron Finch against
Zimbabwe
file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map
Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...
in 2018, while
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
's
Syazrul Idrus recorded the best bowling figures of 7/8 against
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
in July 2023.
Origins
Cricket itself was probably first played in England in the
Late Middle Ages
The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...
, but it did not rise to prominence until the eighteenth century. A set of
laws
Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...
were drawn up in 1744, and the game achieved a level of relative standardisation by the late nineteenth century.
One-day cricket
Limited overs cricket, also known as white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed within one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty20 cricket (3-h ...
was trialled in 1962, and the first domestic tournament played the following year, and in 1971, England and Australia contested the first
One Day International
One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...
. The match consisted of one innings for each side, with 40 eight-
ball overs.
In the 1990s, a number of countries were exploring the possibility of a shorter game still: in New Zealand,
Martin Crowe developed
Cricket Max, in which each team bats for 10 eight-ball overs, while in Australia they considered an eight-a-side contest they dubbed "Super 8s". At the same time, the
England and Wales Cricket Board
The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...
(ECB) conducted consumer research, and proposed the idea of a 20 overs-per-side contest, which would last for about three hours. The first match was played in 2003 between
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
and
Sussex
Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
.
History
The first Twenty20 International match between two men's sides was played on 17 February 2005, involving
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
and
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. ''
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...
'' reported that "neither side took the game especially seriously", and it was noted by ''
ESPNcricinfo
ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...
'' that but for a large score for
Ricky Ponting, "the concept would have shuddered". However, Ponting himself said "if it does become an international game then I'm sure the novelty won't be there all the time".
Two further matches were played that year;
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
beat Australia in June, and
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
were defeated by New Zealand in October. Early the following year, a contest between New Zealand and the
West Indies
The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...
finished as the first
tied match, and a tiebreak was played for the first time in men's international cricket: the two sides took part in a
bowl-out to determine a winner; New Zealand won 3–0.
The game had initially been developed to boost the interest in domestic cricket, and to aid this the international teams were only allowed to host three T20Is each year. The cricket manager for the ICC,
David Richardson, also commented that "Part of the success of Twenty20 cricket is making sure it can coexist with Test cricket and one-dayers."
Despite this, the first international tournament was held in 2007 in South Africa; the
2007 ICC World Twenty20.
That tournament was won by
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, who defeated their close rivals
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
in the final. Writing for ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', Dilip Premachandran suggested that the competition's success meant that "the format is here to stay". The next tournament was scheduled for 2009, and it was decided that they would take place
biannually (more frequently than the 50 over
Cricket World Cup, which occurs once every four years). In the opening match of the 2007 World Twenty20,
Chris Gayle scored the first century in a T20I, the achievement being reached in the twentieth match of the format.
The 500th T20I match was contested between
Ireland and the United Arab Emirates at the
Sheikh Zayed Stadium,
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...
on 16 February 2016.
ICC decided to use
Decision Review System (DRS) in Twenty20 Internationals from the end of September 2017, with its first use in the
India-Australia T20I series in October 2017.
Current international rankings
Teams with T20I status
Permanent T20I status
Prior to 2019, permanent T20I status was limited to the
Test-playing nations (the full members of the ICC), which included 12 teams after the promotion of Afghanistan and Ireland to full member status in 2017. In April 2018, the ICC announced that it would grant T20I status to all of its 105
members
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
from 1 January 2019.
Nations that have played T20I cricket are listed below, with the date of their first T20I after gaining permanent T20I status shown in brackets (teams in italics had previously played T20Is with
temporary status):
Temporary T20I status
Between 2005 and 2018, the ICC granted temporary
ODI and T20I status to a selection of other teams (known as
Associate members). Teams earned this temporary status for a period of four years based on their performance in the quadrennial
ICC World Cricket League – or, more specifically, based on the top six finishing positions at the
ICC World Cup Qualifier, which is the final event of the World Cricket League. Teams could also earn this status by qualifying for the
ICC T20 World Cup.
Twelve nations held this temporary T20I status before gaining permanent T20I status or losing status after underperforming at the World Cup Qualifier or World Twenty20 Qualifier (dates shown are for the first and last matches played while holding temporary T20I status, not when this status was gained, lost or changed to permanent):
* (from
1 September 2007, until
30 January 2014)
* (from
12 September 2007, until
20 June 2018)
* (from
2 August 2008, until
12 March 2017)
* (from
2 August 2008, until
29 July 2018)
* (from
2 August 2008, until
28 January 2014)
* (from
3 August 2008, until
8 April 2009)
* (from
1 February 2010, until
5 June 2017)
* (from
16 March 2014, until
29 July 2018)
* (from
16 March 2014, until
18 January 2017)
* (from
17 March 2014, until
22 October 2018)
* (from
13 July 2015, until
17 March 2018)
* (from
25 July 2015, until
19 January 2017)
The ICC has also given special T20I status to the
ICC World XI team for:
*The
2017 Independence Cup, a three match series versus Pakistan national team to help revive international cricket in Pakistan.
*The
Hurricane Relief T20 Challenge, a one-off match against West Indies on 31 May 2018, to raise funds for stadiums damaged by
Hurricane Irma
Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Hurricane Maria, Maria two weeks later. At the time, it was considered ...
and
Hurricane Maria in September 2017.
Cricket at international multi-sport events
Cricket was played as part of the
1900 Summer Olympics
The 1900 Summer Olympics (), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 14 May to 28 October 1900. No opening or closin ...
, when England and France contested a two-day match.
In 1998,
cricket was played as part of the Commonwealth Games, on this occasion in the 50-over format. There was some talk about Twenty20 cricket being part of the
2010 Commonwealth Games, which were held in
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
, but at the time the
Board of Control for Cricket in India
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...
(BCCI), were not in favour of the short format of the game, and it was not included.
Cricket was played in
2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China and
2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. India skipped both times. There was further calls for subsequent Commonwealth Games and
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
. The
Commonwealth Games Federation
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), currently known as Commonwealth Sport, is the international organisation responsible for the direction and control of the Commonwealth Games and Commonwealth Youth Games, and is the governing body ...
asked the ICC to participate in the
2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
and
2018 Commonwealth Games, but the ICC turned down the invitation. In 2010, the
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...
recognised the
International Cricket Council
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...
as a governing body that complied to the requirements of the
Olympic charter which in turn meant that cricket could apply to be included in the Olympic Games, but in 2013 the ICC announced that it had no intentions to make such an application, primarily due to opposition from the
BCCI. ''
ESPNcricinfo
ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...
'' suggested that the opposition might be based on the possible loss of income. In April 2016, ICC chief executive David Richardson said that Twenty20 cricket can have a chance of getting in for the
2024 Summer Games, but there must be collective support shown by the ICC's membership base, in particular from BCCI, in order for there to be a chance of inclusion.
Statistics
Rohit Sharma and
Glenn Maxwell are the only players to score 5 T20I tons.
The highest team total in a T20I was made by Zimbabwe versus Gambia when they scored 344/4. The lowest total was recorded in 2024, when Nigeria bowled out Ivory Coast for just 7 runs. The highest successful chase was made in March 2023, when South Africa scored 259 runs to overhaul West Indies's target and win the match.
,
Rohit Sharma has scored the most runs in the format.
Aaron Finch has made the highest individual score in T20Is, with his innings of 172 against Zimbabwe in 2018. New Zealand bowler
Tim Southee holds the records for the most wickets taken in the format.
See also
*
List of International Cricket Council members
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Cricket Australia, Australia, England and Wales Cricket B ...
*
Women's Twenty20 International
References
{{International cricket
*
*