2007 ICC World Twenty20

     Twenty20 is a shortened form of cricket, in which only 20 overs are played per innings, making it a 40-over match in toto, if played till the end by both the teams. The international championship of Twenty20, also known as T20, ICC World Twenty20 had its inaugural tournament in the year 2007. The tournament was played by the ten Test-plying nations, apart from Kenya and Scotland, the finalists of the 2007 WCL Division One tournament. In final match of ICC T20 World Cup 2007, India emerged as the winner, after beating Pakistan.

 Twenty20 World Cup 2007 Final

The final of 2007 ICC Twenty20 World Cup was played between India and Pakistan. India reached the finals after beating Australia, by 15 runs, at Kingsmead, Durban. On the other hand, Pakistan made it to the finals after winning against New Zealand, by 6 wickets, in Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town. The final match took place on 24th September 2007, in Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg. On the day of the final, India won the toss and elected to bat first, since the pitch was considered to be batsman-friendly. By the end of twenty overs, India was 157/5, with Umar Gul having taken the crucial wickets of both Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The only player who had played a decent innings was Gautam Gambhir, who made 75 runs off 54 balls. With a low score to pursue, Pakistan had an edge from the very start. As the game progressed, Sreesanth's 21-run over tilted the game more in the favor of Pakistan. It was only Irfan Pathan and Joginder Sharma who bowled tight overs, to balance the odds a bit. By the end of the 16th over, Pakistan was short of 54 runs. Then, Harbhajan Singh came to bowl and Misbah-ul-Haq hit 3 sixes off his over. As if this wasn't enough, even Sreesanth managed to give 2 sixes in his next over. With one over remaining and one last wicket in hand, Pakistan needed just 13 runs to win. At the start of the final over, Joginder Sharma bowled a wide ball, which was soon followed by a dot ball. Not much time later, Misbah went for a six, leaving Pakistan need just 6 runs to win, with four balls remaining. As Misbah tried to go for another six, he was caught at short fine-leg by Sreesanth. With this, Pakistan was all out for 152 runs and India had won the match, by 5 runs, as well as the championship.

Statistics

• Winning Team: India
• Man of the Match: Irfan Pathan (3 wickets, for 16 runs)
• Man of the Series: Shahid Afridi (Pakistan)

                   History Of the ICC World T20

    The ICC World Twenty20 was first held in 2007. It was first decided that every two years an ICC World Twenty20 tournament is to take place, except in the event of an ICC Cricket World Cup being scheduled in the same year, in which case it will be held the year before. The first tournament was in 2007 in South Africa where India defeated Pakistan in the final. Two Associate teams had played in the first tournament, selected through the 2007 ICC World Cricket League Division One, a 50-over competition. In December 2007 it was decided to hold a qualifying tournament with a 20-over format to better prepare the teams. With six participants, two would qualify for the 2009 World Twenty20 and would each receive $250,000 in prize money. The second tournament was won by Pakistan who beat Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in England on 21 June 2009.

    The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 tournament was held in West Indies in May 2010, where England defeated Australia by 7 wickets. The 2012 ICC World Twenty20 was won by the West-Indies, by defeating Sri Lanka at the finals. For the first time, a host nation competed in the final of the ICC World Twenty20. There were 12 participants for the title

including Ireland and Afghanistan as 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. It was the first time the World Twenty20 tournament took place in an Asian country.Pakistan was the only team to reach the last four in the first four editions of the tournament. 2014 saw the expansion to 16 teams featuring three teams making their debuts. Sri Lanka yet again made it to the Finals this time winning after their two other appearances in previous finals. The ICC World Twenty20 has had five champions from five tournaments.