So, another T20 tournament, eh?
Yes, but this is the big one. Sure, the BBL-IPL-PSL-CPL-BPL-Hundred (we must be forgetting a couple) are big deals too (some bigger than others, admittedly), and soon there will be at least two more - the SAT20 and the ILT20 - to add to the list. Don't forget the Asia Cup as well. But this is the cup that counts for more than all the others.
Okay, I'm hooked - tell me more …
It's the eighth edition of the T20 World Cup. The first one was back in 2007 in South Africa, and it was India's victory there that gave birth to today's franchise cricket phenomenon. A few players from that tournament - Dinesh Karthik, Rohit Sharma, Shakib Al Hasan and Sean Williams - are part of this one too, 15 years later. India haven't got their hands on the trophy since 2007, and it's been passed on from Pakistan (2009) to England (2010), West Indies (2012 and 2016), Sri Lanka (2014), and now the current champions Australia (2021).
Has the T20 World Cup been held in Australia before?
No, the ODI World Cup has been held in Australia in 1992 and 2015, but this is the first time they are hosting the T20 World Cup. It was supposed to be held there in 2020, but then the Covid-19 pandemic happened. So it's happening two years later and Australia have the chance to defend their title at home.
Dates and venue details, please?
It starts on October 16 in Geelong in the state of Victoria, with the final in Melbourne on November 13. The other host cities are Hobart, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide - the who's who of Australian venues.
Okay, what's the format?
It's the same as last year. The meaty part of the T20 World Cup is called the Super 12, comprising 12 teams - like it says on the tin. Eight of the 12 have qualified directly for this round - Australia, England, New Zealand and Afghanistan in Group 1; and Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and South Africa in Group 2. The Super 12 stage begins on October 22, with last year's finalists Australia and New Zealand squaring off in Sydney.
That's eight of the Super 12 spoken for, what about the other four?
Before the Super 12 begins, there's a first round that starts on October 16 and runs until the 21st. Netherlands, Sri Lanka, UAE and Namibia comprise Group A of round one, while Ireland, West Indies, Scotland and Zimbabwe form Group B. The top two teams from each group progress to the Super 12 stage.
There was one last year? Aren't World Cups usually played a few years apart?
A fair question. The T20 World Cup has been happening every two years since 2010, but then there was a five year gap after the 2016 tournament …
Why?!
The ICC gave it a miss in 2018 because the calendar was just too crowded with bilateral cricket. There was a thought of conducting it in South Africa that year, but the government had banned Cricket South Africa from hosting any major events for not meeting transformation targets.
Okay, go on …
There was an ODI World Cup in 2019, and so the plan was to stage the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia and the 2021 Champions Trophy in India. But then the Champions Trophy was scrapped and replaced by another T20 World Cup - so there were T20 World Cups scheduled back to back for 2020 and 2021. But then the pandemic ensured the 2020 edition didn't happen, and because India wanted to keep their 2021 T20 World Cup (which ended up happening in the UAE), Australia's tournament moved to 2022.
So Australia's reign as T20 champs could be the shortest?
Umm, this has happened before. Pakistan won the 2009 T20 World Cup in England, and England won the 2010 T20 World Cup in the Caribbean. So Pakistan's joy was pretty short-lived. Again, it was held in consecutive years because of some issues around the Champions Trophy … but shall we get back to the present?
Okay, regale us with some tales of the past World Cups …
Let's start with Chris Gayle and the first match of the first T20 World Cup. He gave the tournament the perfect start by smashing the first hundred in T20 internationals. And then Yuvraj Singh went 6,6,6,6,6,6 in one over from Stuart Broad in Durban 2007. Nine years later, Carlos Brathwaite went 6, 6, 6, 6 in the final over of the 2016 T20 World Cup final, to leave Ben Stokes and England shellshocked. There's lots more … but shall we talk about the big one?
You mean India …
… versus Pakistan, yes. They are playing each other on October 23 in what should be a full house - more than 90,000 fans - at the MCG. It will be quite the spectacle. It's the opening game of their campaigns, just like last year. Back then, it was Pakistan who ended decades of pain by beating India for the first time in any World Cup, and pushed them towards a group-stage exit from the tournament.
So, what's new at this World Cup?
There are some rules. This is the first tournament that will implement the new playing conditions that came into effect on October 1 this year. The most significant among them is that teams will be slapped with a fielding penalty if they are slow with their over rate.