The first T20 match: Cricket's shortest format kicks off with frizzy hair, fake moustaches and an underarm ball

The T20 format has played a pivotal role in expanding cricket’s global footprint over the past two decades. 

T20 cricket — the shortest format of the sport — made its Asian Games debut at Guangzhou 2010, marking its inclusion at a multi-sport event for the first time. The format also helped in cricket’s return to the Olympics, slated for Los Angeles 2028.

While it is highly popular now, T20 cricket did not receive the serious attention it enjoys today.

The first men’s T20 International match was played on February 17, 2005, with the New Zealand vs Australia fixture in Auckland. Australia, the then ODI World Cup champions, won the contest by 44 runs after making 214-5 in their 20 overs.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting hit an unbeaten 98 off 55 balls. The knock remained the highest score in the T20Is before Chris Gayle knocked it down with a century in the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007. Seamer Michael Kasprowicz bagged 4/29 to take the Australian cricket team home to victory despite a valiant 66 off 39 from Kiwi all-rounder Scott Styris.

Ricky Ponting was adjudged the first player of the match in men’s T20Is.

Despite their status as trans-Tasman rivals on the cricket field, Australia and New Zealand approached the first men’s T20I almost akin to an exhibition match filled with lighthearted moments, drama and entertainment.

The two sides sported classical retro jerseys from the 1980s era, with a few players also donning fake moustaches for added charm. The match at Eden Park drew a crowd of over 30,000 spectators young and old.

Kiwi batter Hamish Marshall, meanwhile, sported an afro that made him stand out during the match having been bowled out for a paltry eight runs when he made the crease.

When New Zealand needed an unattainable 45 runs off the final ball, Glenn McGrath recreated the infamous bowling incident from 1981 when Australia’s Trevor Chappell bowled an underarm delivery to avoid getting hit for six off the last ball. Umpire Billy Bowden comically brandished a red card in a style reminiscent of football, playfully sending McGrath back for his feigned action.

“You get a stage with 30,000 people, you’re not going to turn that away, so hopefully it’s here to stay,” New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming, who also sported a fake moustache, said about the new-age format after the match. 

The success of the inaugural T20 World Cup, known as World Twenty20 in 2007, further attracted audiences beyond traditional cricket-following nations and made T20 the most played format of cricket worldwide.

The first T20 international match was played between the women’s teams of England and New Zealand on August 5, 2004, in Hove, United Kingdom — six months before the Australian men’s team played New Zealand at Eden Park.

It was the second epoch-making feat in cricket that belonged to women ahead of their men’s counterparts. The inaugural women's ODI World Cup took place two years before the men's version in 1973.

However, the first women’s T20I turned out to be a low-key contest with just around 500 spectators turning up for the event. The match went down to the last three balls with New Zealand’s 131/8 proving to be enough as England fell short by nine runs. 

Though England lost the first-ever T20 international match, it was the first time where the format was tried, tested and implemented. 

India, home to the Indian Premier League (IPL) — the most-watched T20 cricket league in the world — refused to be involved with the shorter cricket format in the initial years.

The first T20 match was played between Hampshire Hawks and Sussex Sharks in the 2003 Twenty20 Cup. Pakistan bowling great Wasim Akram, who played for Hampshire, hit the first-ever six in T20 cricket. Hampshire won the match by five runs.

Over 45 matches were played in the inaugural Twenty20 Cup which involved 18 teams. The tournament was played to capture the imagination of English fans, whose love affair with the longer formats of the game was quickly dwindling as per the survey conducted by the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) early in the 21st century. 

The Twenty20 Cup turned out to be a success and eventually after initial reservations, all cricket boards started to go with the newest format of the game.  

Currently, there are more than 100 countries that play T20 Internationals compared to 16 in One-Day Internationals (50-over cricket) and 12 nations in the five-day Test format. The International Cricket Council has stated that it sees T20 as the most suitable format for taking the game globally.