6 little known facts about World T20

The qualifying round for the World T20 has already started. Eight teams will fight out to claim two spots for the main round. The current edition will be its 6th edition with the first one played back in 2007. India lifted the inaugural gold beating Pakistan in the final. The Twenty-20 version of the game is never short of upsets and surprises. It gives the fans an on-the-go entertainment and WT20 is essential part of that excitement. In this age of internet usage, it is most likely that everyone knows everything about this tournament but their appear some facts that may be un-known and little known to the majority of the cricket fans. 1. Pakistan has scored the most runs and has taken the most wickets in WT20 Pakistan. (Photo Source: AFP) This may not come as a surprise to many but Pakistan surely has scored the most runs (jointly with Sri Lanka) and has taken more wickets than any other team in the WT20s. In the 30 games that Pakistan has played at the WT20, it has a combined tally of 4299 runs and 192 wickets. Sri Lanka has scored as many runs as Pakistan but in 31 games. India is at number 3 on this list with 3889 runs from 28 games. No other team comes close to the 192 wickets Pakistan has taken in the WT20. Sri Lanka is second with 181 wickets while South Africa follows closely with 171 wickets. 2. All 22 players made their T20I debut in a single WT20 game (Photo by MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP/Getty Images) It happened in the WT20 debut of Nepal and Hong Kong who qualified for the tournament after standing third and sixth in the ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2013. Both gained international T20 status for the first time in their history and were scheduled to play their first official T20I game against each other in the qualifying stage of the World Cup. This meant that all 11 from each side and 22 in total were to make their T20I debut on the same day and in the same match. This is quite unique and only such instance in WT20 history. 3. Zimbabwe is the only test nation to not feature in every WT20 Zimbabwe. (Photo Source: Associated Press) All 10 test teams have featured in every WT20 tournament except Zimbabwe who reportedly pulled out of the tournament in 2009 after the British government refused to issue visas to Zimbabwean cricketers following the re-election of President Robert Mugabe. They featured in the 2010 tournament and have been a regular since then. They, however, remain the only test nation to not compete in every WT20 tournament. 4. Roelof van der Merwe and Dirk Nannes are the only players to claim a wicket and score runs for 2 different countries in WT20 (Photo Source: Getty Images) Though these two are not the only ones to play for two different countries but they surely are the only ones to take a wicket and score runs for two different countries. Dirk Nannes played for Netherlands when they made their debut in 2009. Just two months later, he was called to play for Australia and played the 2010 WT20 with them. Roelof van der Merwe was part of the South African squad in WT20 2009 and 2010. Later in 2015, he acquired a Dutch passport and is now currently in the Dutch team for WT20. He and Dirk Nannes are the only ones to have scored and claim a wicket for two different countries in WT20. 5. Zimbabwe’s stay in the WT20 2010 was just 2 days and 3 days in WT20 2012 Zimbabwe. (Photo by MUNIR UZ ZAMAN/AFP/Getty Images) Zimbabwe played their first game of the WT20 after missing the 2009 event by unforeseeable circumstances on May 4, 2010. They played Sri Lanka and lost. Next day, they were again in action against New Zealand only to lose again. Such was the format of that edition that after two loses in as many days, Zimbabwe were seen packing their bags for home. In the next edition again, they had to exit the World Cup inside 3 days after losing to Sri Lanka (again) and South Africa. ICC rectified their mistake and changed the format for next editions. 6. 2012 was the only event to not feature a new team West Indies. (© Getty Images) The inaugural event marked the WT20 debut of 12 teams; the 10 test nations, Kenya and Scotland. Ireland and Netherlands joined in 2009 and Afghanistan in 2010. No new team joined in the 2010 event. The tournament was played between 12 of the 15 teams that had already played in WT20s. Kenya, Netherlands and Scotland were the teams that could not qualify. Hong Kong, Nepal and United Arab Emirates joined in 2014 while Oman is the latest to make their WT20 debut in 2016. This clearly shows that T20 has diversified cricket and has spread it to parts unknown.

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6 little known facts about World T20

3. Zimbabwe is the only test nation to not feature in every WT20

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