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Ever since Twenty20 (T20) cricket was born in the UK in 2003, its popularity has grown in leaps and bounds in the cricket-playing world. In Twenty20 cricket, each team gets a single innings of 20 overs to outscore the other. As a result, an average T20 cricket game lasts 3 1/2 hours which has made the sport faster and more exciting for sports fans who like lots of action.
The pinnacle of Twenty20 cricket is the international World Twenty20 Tournament, which is played every two years by cricket-playing countries. The inaugural World Twenty20 Tournament was hosted by South Africa in 2007. Ten Test cricket-playing countries took part in addition to the two finalists of the 2007 WCL Division One tournament. The tournament was won by India who beat Pakistan in the final in Johannesburg by 5 runs.
The 12 countries with teams in the 2009 World Twenty20 Tournament (hosted in England) were Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies. Pakistan won the tournament by defeating Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in London. The 2010 World Twenty20 Tournament will be hosted in the West Indies from April 30 to May 16. The next World Twenty20 Tournament will be held in 2012, the next in 2014 and so on.
England became the 2010 World T20 Champions when they convincingly beat Australia, thereby winning their first ever major international tournament.
