Earlier known as ICC World Twenty20, the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup is the championship of Twenty20 International cricket played at the international level. The tournament is organized by the cricket’s governing body ICC (International Cricket Council).
Presently, ICC Men’s t20 world cup comprises over 16 teams in which the top ten teams are selected through the rankings at the given deadline, and rest 6 are selected through the T20 World Cup Qualifier. All the teams play matches as Twenty20 Internationals.
Usually, the tournament is played every two years. However, the 7th or next edition is a special one as it will be played after a long break after the 2016 edition. The tournament will be held in Australia. In May 2016, governing authorities decided to commence the T-twenty world cup tournament in 2018, with South Africa being the probable host country.
However, at the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, ICC concluded that they have postponed the tournament till 2020. As originally scheduled, 7th ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will be played in Australia.
Australia Welcomes T20 Men’s World Cup 2020 with Limited Crowd
13th June 2020– T20 Men’s World Cup 2020 host country Australia on Friday declared that the crowd of 10,000 spectators will be welcomed at sporting venues from July. The news is a big relief as the COVID-19 pandemic brought a shuddering halt to the T20 World Cup which will be played after a prolonged wait.
The tournament is planned to be held between October 18 and November 15, 2020, and the country is racing against time to prepare for the tournament which is due soon while eagerly waiting for a Test Series against India which is scheduled in December.
As per the guidelines declared by Australian Prime Minister Scott, stadiums that have the facility to host 40,000 people will be permitted to welcome crowds of 10,000 people, leaving out prominent cricket stadiums like Adelaide Oval, MCG, and SCG. The news is sure of hope towards resuming the tournament but still, it is filled with ambiguity as the International Cricket Council will decide the fate of the T20 World Cup next month.
When passing down the information, Morrison said “This is going to be looked at over the next few weeks. For the larger ones (venues) I would venture that it would be the subject of a discrete approval for each venue that would be worked out with the Chief Health Officer in each state of territory.”
Also Read: T20 World Cup Winners
He also added, “So by the time you get into July there maybe that type of opportunity for the rules that apply to those under 40,000 to carry over to those above 40,000. These will be practical, commonsense issues, worked through by the medical expert panel over the next few weeks and I think they will give great instruction.”
New Zealand has declared itself a corona-free country and Australia can be the next as it is spectacularly handling the pandemic and has only 7000 active cases presently. This gives a possibility that the T20 World Cup might happen this year.
Morrison also added, “When you’re up above 40,000, you’ve got more than 10,000 people going to a gathering, that has implications for the egress and access of and to those premises, public transport crushes, all those sorts of things,” he explained.
T20 Cricket World Cup 2020: What is ICC’s Role?
The International Cricket League is consecuted with over 104 member nations that include 12 full members that participate in test matches and the remaining 92 Associate Members. Fundamentally, ICC is responsible and accountable for the functioning, organization, and governance of major international cricket tournaments especially the ICC T20 World Cup and Cricket World Cup.
The body also appoints referees and umpires for sanctioned cricket T20 world cup, Test Matches, and One Day Internationals. The governing body also promulgates the ICC Code of Conduct for maintaining cricket standards while also taking strict actions toward match-fixing and corruption with the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU)
ICC Busted Rumors about ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia
The T20 cricket world cup 2020 or seventh ICC Men’s T20 World Cup tournament is scheduled to be held between 18 October and 15 November in Australia. This year’s world cup T20 winners will be decided in the finale match scheduled at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Rumors were around that due to COVID-19 pandemic, Cricket t20 world cup 2020 might get postponed like IPL 2020.
But, International Cricket Council busted the gossip and confirmed that the next ICC t20 world cup will be held in Australia as planned, despite the pandemic.
T20 World Cup History
The ICC, International Cricket Council is the world governing body of cricket that hosts the Cricket World Cup, Women’s Cricket World Cup, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, ICC Champions Trophy and Under-19 Cricket World Cup.
Initially, named as the Imperial Cricket Conference by representatives from Australia, England and South Africa in 1909, the body was named again in 1965 as the International Cricket Conference while keeping its current name in 1989.
ECB Initiated ICC Men’s T20 World Cup
In 2002, the Benson & Hedges Cup was ended, and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was looking for an alternative to fill its place. The authorities of world cricket were seeking a way to increase the game’s popularity among the youth in response to declining crowds and sponsorship.
The main goal was to undertake such tournaments which are played at fast-pace while being accessible to thousands of fans who had problems with the longer versions of the tournament.
Therefore, the marketing manager of the ECB, Stuart Robertson, proposed a 20 over per innings game in 2001 which is today known as the T20 cricket world cup. The astonishing part is there were 11–7 votes in favor of implementing the new format.
Initially, it was played in the domestic region between the English counties as domestic tournaments. The first season of the T-twenty world cup was an immense success that attracted a crowd of 27,509, the largest attendance for any county cricket league.
This helped in the expansion of the T-20 cricket world cup and was adopted by several other countries like Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, and the West Indies. Later, it was decided that the T20 cricket world cup will be held every two years unless the Cricket World Cup is scheduled in the same year. In such a case, the tournament will be detained the year before or after.
Expansion to 16 teams in 2014 Edition
The 2014 ICC T20 tournament which was held in Bangladesh was the first-ever league to constitute 16 teams comprising all ten full members and six associate members. The teams qualified through the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier got placed in the edition. In 2012, during the 5th edition, the tournament was expected to expand the teams to 16 but eventually reverted to 12 only.
Must Read: T20 World Cup History
T20 World Cup Schedule 2020
| Date | Time | Match Specifics | Stadium |
| Oct 18, 2020, Sunday | 8:30 AM03:00 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 1:30 PM08:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 1st Match- Sri Lanka vs. Ireland, First Round. Group A 2nd Match- Oman vs. Papua New Guinea, First Round. Group A | Simonds Stadium, Geelong |
| Oct 19, 2020, Monday | 8:30 AM03:00 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 1:30 PM08:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 3rd Match- Bangladesh vs. Namibia, First Round Group B 4th Match- Netherlands vs. ScotlandGroup B | Bellerive Oval, Hobart |
| Oct 20, 2020, Tuesday | 8:30 AM03:00 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 1:30 PM08:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 5th Match- Ireland vs. Oman, First Round Group A 6th Match- Sri Lanka vs. Papua New Guine, First Round Group A | Simonds Stadium, Geelong |
| Oct 21, 2020, Wednesday | 8:30 AM03:00 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 1:30 PM08:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 7th Match- Namibia vs. Scotland, First Round Group B 8th Match– Bangladesh vs. Netherlands, First Round Group B | Bellerive Oval, Hobart |
| Oct 22, 2020, Thursday | 8:30 AM03:00 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 1:30 PM08:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 9th Match- Papua New Guinea vs. Ireland, First Round Group A 10th Match- Sri Lanka vs. Oman, First Round Group A | Simonds Stadium, Geelong |
| Oct 23, 2020, Friday | 8:30 AM03:00 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 1:30 PM08:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 11th Match- Netherlands vs. Namibia, First Round Group B 12th Match- Bangladesh vs. Scotland, First Round Group B | Bellerive Oval, Hobart |
| Oct 24, 2020, Saturday | 1:30 PM08:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL 4:30 PM11:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 13th Match- Australia vs. Pakistan, Super 12 Group 1 14th Match- India vs. South Africa, Super 12 Group 2 | Perth Stadium, Perth |
| Oct 25, 2020, Sunday | 8:30 AM03:00 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 1:30 PM08:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 15th Match- TBC vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 1 16th Match– New Zealand vs. West Indies, Super 12 Group 1 | Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne |
| Oct 26, 2020, Monday | 11:30 AM06:00 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 4:30 PM11:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 17th Match- Afghanistan vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 2 18th Match- England vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 2 | Perth Stadium, Perth |
| Oct 27, 2O20, Tuesday | 1:30 PM08:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 19th Match- New Zealand vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 1 | Bellerive Oval, Hobart |
| Oct 28, 2020, Wednesday | 11:30 AM06:00 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 4:30 PM11:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 20th Match- Afghanistan vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 2 21st Match- Australia vs. West Indies, Super 12 Group 1 | Perth Stadium, Perth |
| Oct 29, 2020, Thursday | 8:30 AM03:00 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 1:30 PM08:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 22nd Match- Pakistan vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 1 23rd Match- India vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 2 | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne |
| Oct 30, 2020, Friday | 1:30 PM08:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL 4:30 PM11:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 24th Match- England vs. South Africa, Super 12 Group 2 25th Match– West Indies vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 1 | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Perth Stadium, Perth |
| Oct 31, 2020, Saturday | 9:30 AM04:00 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 2:30 PM09:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 26th Match- New Zealand vs. Pakistan, Super 12 Group 1 27th Match- Australia vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 1 | The Gabba, Brisbane |
| Nov 01, 2020, Sunday | 9:00 AM03:30 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 1:30 PM08:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 28th Match- Afghanistan vs. South Africa, Super 12 Group 2 29th Match– India vs. England, Super 12 Group 2 | Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne |
| Nov 02, 2020, Monday | 8:30 AM03:00 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 2:30 PM09:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 30th Match- TBC vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 2 31st Match- New Zealand vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 1 | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney The Gabba, Brisbane |
| Nov 03, 2020, Tuesday | 9:00 AM03:30 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 2:00 PM08:30 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 32nd Match- Pakistan vs. West Indies, Super 12 Group 1 33rd Match- Australia vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 1 | Adelaide Oval, Adelaide |
| Nov 04, 2020, Wednesday | 2:30 PM09:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 34th Match- Afghanistan vs. England, Super 12 Group 2 | The Gabba, Brisbane |
| Nov 05, 2020, Thursday | 9:00 AM03:30 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 2:00 PM08:30 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 35th Match- South Africa vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 2 36th Match- India vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 2 | Adelaide Oval, Adelaide |
| Nov 06, 2020, Friday | 8:30 AM03:00 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 1:30 PM08:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 37th Match- Pakistan vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 1 38th Match- Australia vs. New Zealand, Super 12 Group 1 | Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne |
| Nov 07, 2020, Saturday | 9:00 AM03:30 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 1:30 PM08:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 39th Match- England vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 2 40th Match- West Indies vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 1 | Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne |
| Nov 08, 2020, Sunday | 8:30 AM03:00 AMGMT / 02:00 PM LOCAL 1:30 PM08:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 41st Match- South Africa vs. TBC, Super 12 Group 2 42nd Match- India vs. Afghanistan, Super 12 Group 2 | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney |
| Nov 11, 2020, Wednesday | 1:30 PM08:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | 1st Semi-Final- TBC vs. TBC | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney |
| Nov 12, 2020, Thursday | 2:00 PM08:30 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | Semi-Final- TBC vs. TBC, 2nd | Adelaide Oval, Adelaide |
| Nov 15, 2020, Sunday | 1:30 PM08:00 AMGMT / 07:00 PM LOCAL | Final: TBC vs TBC, Final | Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne |