New Delhi. As the date of ICC T20 World Cup draws closer, the cricket fever is starting to rise among the fans. Most of the countries have announced their 15-member squads for this important tournament to be held in West Indies and America. The inaugural match of the T20 World Cup will be played between USA and Canada on June 1, a week after the IPL 2024 final on May 26. This time 20 teams are participating in the tournament, which has been divided into four groups of 5 teams each. While West Indies, USA, Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Netherlands have got direct entry, Ireland, Scotland, Papua New Guinea, Canada, Nepal, Oman, Namibia and Uganda. Direct entry to the tournament through qualifiers.
However, the nature of T20 cricket is full of uncertainty and within a few overs the course of the match changes from one team to another. But apart from Rohit Sharma’s team India, Australia and the host India’s team are being considered as contenders for the title. As for the T20 World Cup, it was first organized in 2007 in South Africa and the Indian team became the champion. The last T20 World Cup was held in Australia in 2022, with England winning the final by defeating Pakistan.
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The format of T20 cricket has changed a lot since the 2007 World Cup. Until a few years ago, very few matches in the T20 format saw scores of more than 200, but now scores of 250 are being easily scored amid the frenzy of fours-sixes. It is possible that we may even see a score of 300 in T20 World Cup 2024. Let us tell you that in the history of T20Is, scores of over 300 have been scored only once so far (314/3, Nepal Vs Mongolia).
Although many new records are set in every ICC T20 World Cup, some of the records set in the first tournament in 2007 have not been broken till date. Two of these records are in the name of the Sri Lankan team. In the first T20 World Cup, on 14 September 2007 in Johannesburg, Sri Lanka scored 260 for 6 (run rate 13.00) against Kenya, the highest ever in a T20 World Cup. Not only that, the Sri Lankan team won the match by 172 runs, which is the biggest win in terms of runs of the tournament. Fans hope that both these records will be broken in World Cup 2024.
The batsman, who was dismissed for 99 in the Test, never scored a century again in his career.
Jayasurya and Jayawardene’s ‘Jai-Jai’
Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jayawardene scored storming half-centuries in this match against Kenya. Jayasuriya scored 88 runs (strike rate 200.00) off 44 balls with 11 fours and four sixes, while Jayawardene scored 65 runs (strike rate 240.00) off just 27 balls with 9 fours and two sixes. In the final moments of the innings, Jahan Mubarak also scored an unbeaten 46 runs (strike rate 353.84) with the help of three fours and five sixes in 13 balls to take the team to a score of 260.
The Kenyan team was all out for 88 runs.
Burdened by Sri Lanka’s huge score, the Kenyan team kept losing wickets from the start and were bowled out for 88 runs in 19.3 overs. The match was so one-sided that Kenya managed to score only 50 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 10.3 overs. Steve Ticollo’s team lost the match by 172 runs, the biggest ever defeat in terms of runs in a T20 World Cup. However, the biggest loss in terms of runs in T20Is is 273 runs. Nepal beat Mongolia by such a big margin in Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou.
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These two records of 2007 are still not broken
Two other records from T20 World Cup 2007 are also yet to be broken. This is the record for the most ‘looted’ runs in four overs of bowling and the most extras in a match. In the T20 World Cup 2007, Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya scored 64 runs in four overs against Pakistan on 17 September 2007, the most ‘costly’ bowling analysis of the T20 World Cup so far. Similarly, in a match on 11 September 2007, during South Africa’s innings, West Indies conceded an extra 28 runs, including four leg-byes, a no ball and 23 wides. In other words, after conceding 28 runs, the Indian team gifted an additional four overs to the South African team. The match was won by South Africa by 8 wickets but Chris Gayle of West Indies who scored 117 runs off 57 balls (7 fours and 10 sixes) was the ‘player of the match’.
However, the record for most extras (45) in a T20I innings is held by the Philippines. In a match between ICC Associate Member Indonesia and the Philippines held in Bali on 22 December 2023, the Philippines team conceded 45 runs as extras which included 13 byes, 4 legboys and 28 wides. However, despite conceding 45 runs as extras, the Philippines won the match by 2 runs.
Tags: Cricket, ICC T20 World Cup, Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Cricket Team, T20 World Cup, T20 World Cup 2007
First published: May 8, 2024, 09:06 IST