ICC World Twenty20 is the international championship of T20 cricket. The first Twenty20 Cricket World Cup was held in 2007, in South Africa. and next 20/20 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2012

Twenty20 World Cup

ICC World Twenty20 can be described as the international championship of Twenty20 cricket, which is commonly abridged as T20 cricket. As the name suggests, the game is organized by ICC (International Cricket Council), the governing body of cricket in the world. The inaugural tournament of the ICC T20 World Cup was held in the year 2007, in South Africa.

Twenty20 Cricket World Cup 2007 stretched on from 11th September to 24th September, with India winning the championship, after defeating Pakistan by 5 runs (in Johannesburg). Just like the inaugural event had, all the tournaments of the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup will comprise of 12 teams, which will include all the Test-playing nations. Right now, it is expected that the world cup will held around every two years.

Qualification
Talking about the qualification for playing the ICC Twenty20 World Cup, all the Test-playing nations receive the same automatically. As for the rest of the places in the 12-teams championship, they are filled by ICC associate member nations, also known as qualifiers, on the basis of a qualification tournament. In 2007, there were two qualifiers - Scotland and Kenya. In the 2009 tournament, there are three qualifiers - Ireland, the Netherlands and Scotland.

Hosts
The hosts of ICC T20 Cricket World Cup are decided on the basis of the bids made by the nations interested in holding the championship. It is the executive committee of International Cricket Council (ICC) that votes on the bids, selecting the host country. It had been decided that the first two tournaments will be held in South Africa and England, since they had opted the T20 format in the earliest stages only. The hosts of ICC Twenty20 World Cup, till 2014, have and will be:

• 2007 - South Africa
• 2009 - England
• 2010 - West Indies
• 2012 - Sri Lanka
• 2014 - Bangladesh
• 2016 - India

Main Twenty20 World Cup Records (Individual & Team)

Batting
• Most Runs: Mahela Jayawardene - 615 (18 matches) (2007-2010)
• Highest Average: Rohit Sharma - 60.60 (12 matches) (2007-2010)
• Highest strike rate: Chris Gayle - 153.47 (11 matches) (2007-2010)
• Highest Score: Chris Gayle v South Africa - 117 (57 balls) (2007)
• Highest Partnership: Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara v West Indies - 166 (100 balls) (second wicket) (2010)
• Most Runs in a Tournament: Tillakaratne Dilshan - 317 (7 matches) (2009)
• Most runs in an over: Yuvraj Singh against Stuard Broad - 36 (2007)

Bowling
• Most wickets: Shahid Afridi - 27 (20 matches) (2007-2010)
• Best Figures: Umar Gul v New Zealand - 5/6 (3 overs) (2009)
• Most Wickets in a Tournament: Dirk Nannes - 14 (7 matches) (2010)

Fielding
• Most Dismissals (wicket-keeper): by Kamran Akmal - 21 (20 matches) (2007-2010)
• Most Catches (fielder): AB de Villiers 16 (16 matches) (2007-2010)

Team
• Highest Score: 260/6, by Sri Lanka vs Kenya (2007)
• Lowest Score: 68 all out, by Ireland vs West Indies (2010)