Twenty20 International (women)

ATwenty20 match atthe Oval
Highestgoverning body	International Cricket Council
Nicknames	T20I
First played	17 February 2005
Characteristics
Team members	ICC members
Mixed-sex	No
Type	outdoor
Equipment	ball,bat,stumps,glove,pad,helmet

Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form ofTwenty20cricket, in which each team plays a singleinnings with a maximum of twentyovers. The matches are played betweeninternational teams recognized by theInternational Cricket Council (ICC). In the T20I format, eachbowler is restricted to a maximum of four overs. A mandatorypowerplay is taken during the first six overs of an innings.

The first T20I match took place on 17 February 2005 betweenAustralia andNew Zealand, with the firstICC T20 World Cup held in2007. The matches were initially competed between thefull members of the ICC and selectedassociate 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.^[1] The number of matches of the format increased in the 2010s and more T20I matches (100) were played thanODI matches (99) for the first time in 2016.^[2]

As of November 2024^[update],India has the most number of wins (160) whilePakistan has played the most number of matches (247). Babar Azam holds the record of the most runs andTim Southee ofNew Zealand holds the record for the most career wickets (164). The highest individual score is 172, made byAustralia'sAaron Finch againstZimbabwe in 2018, whileMalaysia'sSyazrul Idrus recorded the best bowling figures of 7/8 againstChina in July 2023.

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v t e

Cricket itself was probably first played in England in theLate Middle Ages, but it did not rise to prominence until the eighteenth century. A set oflaws were drawn up in 1744, and the game achieved a level of relative standardisation by the late nineteenth century.^[3]One-day cricket was trialled in 1962, and the first domestic tournament played the following year,^[4] and in 1971, England and Australia contested the firstOne Day International. The match consisted of one innings for each side, with 40 eight-ballovers.^[5]

In the 1990s, a number of countries were exploring the possibility of a shorter game still: in New Zealand,Martin Crowe developedCricket Max, in which each team bats for 10 eight-ball overs,^[6] while in Australia they considered an eight-a-side contest they dubbed "Super 8s". At the same time, theEngland and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) conducted consumer research, and proposed the idea of a 20 overs-per-side contest, which would last for about three hours.^[7] The first match was played in 2003 betweenHampshire andSussex.^{[citation needed]}

The first Twenty20 International match between two men's sides was played on 17 February 2005, involvingAustralia andNew Zealand.Wisden Cricketers' Almanack reported that "neither side took the game especially seriously",^[8] and it was noted byESPNcricinfo that but for a large score forRicky Ponting, "the concept would have shuddered".^[9] However, Ponting himself said "if it does become an international game then I'm sure the novelty won't be there all the time".^[10]

Two further matches were played that year;England beat Australia in June, andSouth Africa were defeated by New Zealand in October.^[11] Early the following year, a contest between New Zealand and theWest Indies finished as the firsttied match, and a tiebreak was played for the first time in men's international cricket: the two sides took part in abowl-out to determine a winner; New Zealand won 3–0.^[12]

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."^[13] Despite this, the first international tournament was held in 2007 in South Africa; the2007 ICC World Twenty20.^[13] That tournament was won byIndia, who defeated their close rivalsPakistan in the final. Writing forThe Guardian, Dilip Premachandran suggested that the competition's success meant that "the format is here to stay".^[14] The next tournament was scheduled for 2009, and it was decided that they would take placebiannually (more frequently than the 50 overCricket World Cup, which occurs once every four years).^[15] 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.^[16]

The 500th T20I match was contested betweenIreland and the United Arab Emirates at theSheikh Zayed Stadium,Abu Dhabi on 16 February 2016.^[17]

ICC decided to useDecision Review System (DRS) in Twenty20 Internationals from the end of September 2017,^[18][19] with its first use in theIndia-Australia T20I series in October 2017.^[20]

ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings

• v
• t
• e

Team	Matches	Points	Rating
India	67	18,251	272
Australia	42	11,199	267
England	45	11,609	258
New Zealand	53	13,318	251
South Africa	49	11,751	240
West Indies	61	14,424	236
Pakistan	69	16,164	234
Sri Lanka	44	10,048	228
Bangladesh	64	14,269	223
Afghanistan	45	9,895	220
Ireland	34	6,821	201
Zimbabwe	64	12,828	200
Netherlands	35	6,366	182
Scotland	23	4,178	182
Namibia	35	6,344	181
United Arab Emirates	60	10,584	176
Nepal	42	7,384	176
United States	33	5,769	175
Canada	35	5,374	154
Oman	47	7,140	152
Uganda	56	7,952	142
Papua New Guinea	20	2,718	136
Kuwait	42	5,441	130
Hong Kong	52	6,602	127
Malaysia	53	6,508	123
Bahrain	64	7,674	120
Jersey	24	2,819	117
Italy	15	1,725	115
Qatar	41	4,666	114
Bermuda	27	3,040	113
Spain	17	1,872	110
Saudi Arabia	39	4,245	109
Kenya	48	5,074	106
Tanzania	41	4,082	100
Germany	22	1,924	87
Nigeria	43	3,377	79
Singapore	37	2,844	77
Guernsey	27	2,071	77
Cayman Islands	26	1,921	74
Austria	57	4,054	71
Denmark	18	1,262	70
Norway	30	2,095	70
Portugal	20	1,333	67
Japan	38	2,518	66
Belgium	36	2,059	57
Cambodia	24	1,365	57
Switzerland	22	1,086	49
Finland	23	1,130	49
Argentina	13	627	48
Sweden	22	1,048	48
Malawi	43	2,019	47
Botswana	33	1,547	47
Isle of Man	13	604	46
France	24	1,109	46
Thailand	36	1,654	46
Romania	34	1,544	45
Bahamas	23	972	42
Czech Republic	22	911	41
Cook Islands	14	552	39
Philippines	22	827	38
Rwanda	64	2,343	37
Fiji	11	387	35
Vanuatu	16	561	35
Cyprus	24	789	33
Indonesia	67	2,128	32
Ghana	19	570	30
Sierra Leone	17	504	30
Hungary	33	971	29
Samoa	23	672	29
Estonia	24	665	28
Malta	41	1,085	26
Mozambique	20	518	26
Eswatini	19	491	26
Israel	7	178	25
Panama	15	318	21
Belize	8	164	21
Gibraltar	26	494	19
Luxembourg	24	432	18
Costa Rica	13	218	17
Bhutan	21	336	16
Mexico	18	287	16
Suriname	8	119	15
Serbia	30	315	11
Maldives	21	214	10
Brazil	10	94	9
Cameroon	11	86	8
Bulgaria	29	191	7
Myanmar	24	144	6
South Korea	16	94	6
Saint Helena	8	44	6
China	6	29	5
Lesotho	11	24	2
Turkey	12	26	2
Gambia	8	6	1
Slovenia	18	0	0
Seychelles	7	0	0
Mali	9	0	0
Greece	6	0	0
Croatia	21	0	0
Mongolia	13	0	0
Timor-Leste	8	0	0
Source:ICC Men's T20I Team Rankings, 21 November 2025 Seepoints calculations for more details.

Prior to 2019, permanent T20I status was limited to theTest-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 itsmembers from 1 January 2019.^[21][22][23] 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 withtemporary status):

Between 2005 and 2018, the ICC granted temporaryODI and T20I status to a selection of other teams (known asAssociate members). Teams earned this temporary status for a period of four years based on their performance in the quadrennialICC World Cricket League – or, more specifically, based on the top six finishing positions at theICC World Cup Qualifier, which is the final event of the World Cricket League.^[24] Teams could also earn this status by qualifying for theICC 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):

•  Kenya (from1 September 2007, until30 January 2014)
•  Scotland (from12 September 2007, until20 June 2018)
•  Ireland (from2 August 2008, until12 March 2017)
•  Netherlands (from2 August 2008, until29 July 2018)
•  Canada (from2 August 2008, until28 January 2014)
•  Bermuda (from3 August 2008, until8 April 2009)
•  Afghanistan (from1 February 2010, until5 June 2017)
•    Nepal (from16 March 2014, until29 July 2018)
•  Hong Kong (from16 March 2014, until18 January 2017)
•  United Arab Emirates (from17 March 2014, until22 October 2018)
•  Papua New Guinea (from13 July 2015, until17 March 2018)
•  Oman (from25 July 2015, until19 January 2017)

The ICC has also given special T20I status to theICC World XI team for:

• The2017 Independence Cup, a three match series versus Pakistan national team to help revive international cricket in Pakistan.^[25]
• TheHurricane Relief T20 Challenge, a one-off match against West Indies on 31 May 2018, to raise funds for stadiums damaged byHurricane Irma andHurricane Maria in September 2017.^[26]

Cricket was played as part of the1900 Summer Olympics, when England and France contested a two-day match.^[27] 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 the2010 Commonwealth Games, which were held inDelhi, but at the time theBoard of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), were not in favour of the short format of the game, and it was not included.^[28]

Cricket was played in2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China^[29] and2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.^[30] India skipped both times.^[31] There was further calls for subsequent Commonwealth Games andOlympic Games. TheCommonwealth Games Federation asked the ICC to participate in the2014 and2018 Commonwealth Games, but the ICC turned down the invitation.^[32] In 2010, theInternational Olympic Committee recognised theInternational Cricket Council as a governing body that complied to the requirements of theOlympic charter which in turn meant that cricket could apply to be included in the Olympic Games,^[33] but in 2013 the ICC announced that it had no intentions to make such an application, primarily due to opposition from theBCCI.ESPNcricinfo suggested that the opposition might be based on the possible loss of income.^{[citation needed]} In April 2016, ICC chief executive David Richardson said that Twenty20 cricket can have a chance of getting in for the2024 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.^[34]

Rohit Sharma andGlenn 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.^[35] The lowest total was recorded in 2024, when Nigeria bowled out Ivory Coast for just 7 runs.^[36] 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.^[37]

As of November 2025^[update],Babar Azam has scored the most runs in the format.^[38]Aaron Finch has made the highest individual score in T20Is, with his innings of 172 against Zimbabwe in 2018.^[39] Afghanistan bowlerRashid Khan holds the records for the most wickets taken in the format.^[40]

• List of International Cricket Council members
• Women's Twenty20 International
• List of Twenty20 International records

• Twenty20 International cricket
• Twenty20 International cricket competitions

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