The impact of T20 cricket is seen is Test as well as ODI formats too. With the advent of T 20s, cricket fans can now witness centuries being scored in a session in Test. Scores of 300 plus are being chased easily in ODIs too. T20 cricket has made the modern day cricketer aggressive, fearless and ready to take on any challenge in the game of cricket.

Today, we focus on the maiden T20 game of various nations and how they fared in the said game:

Australia and New Zealand

The first ever T20 international was held at Auckland on 17th February 2005 between Australia and New Zealand. The Australian skipper Ricky Ponting scored an unbeaten 98 from 62 deliveries with 8 boundaries and 5 sixes and helped Australia post a huge total of 214 runs for the loss of 5 wickets.

The Kiwis were never really in the run chase and despite Scott Styris’s cameo of 66 from 46 balls, they could score 170 runs in their 20 runs. Michael Kasprowicz picked up 4 wickets for 29 runs in his 4 overs and restricted New Zealand to a score of 170.

The first ever T20 was a one-sided affair and the visitors Australia triumphed by 44 runs. Australia has the distinction of being the only cricket nation to win their maiden Test, ODI and T20.

England

England had a fantastic start to their T20 international campaign when they thrashed Australia by a margin of 100 runs in their first ever T20.

Batting first, the Michael Vaughan led team scored 179 runs in 20 overs with Paul Collinwood top-scoring for England.

The English bowlers were spot on from the word go and the strong Australian batting line comprising of Gilchrist, Hayden, Symonds, Clarke, Hussey, Ponting, and Martyn was reduced to 31-7 courtesy Darren Gough who picked up 3 wickets for 16 runs and Jon Lewis who picked up 4 wickets.

Australia were totally outplayed and the margin of victory was 100 runs for the home team. The T20 game between England and Australia was an indication for the Australian team that they had a tough grueling English summer ahead of them.

South Africa

The debut of South Africa to T20 internationals was not a very memorable one. South Africa hosted New Zealand and the T20 international was played at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.

The hosts were bundled out for a mere 133 in 19.3 overs with Nathan Astle and Jeetan Patel both picking up 3 wickets each. The South African skipper Graeme Smith top-scored for the home team and scored 61 runs.

The visitors chased the target comfortably with 2 overs remaining and 5 wickets in hand. Jeetan Patel was named the Man of the Match for his heroics with the ball.

West Indies

West Indies are the most exciting team in the T20 format considering the hard-hitting all-rounders they have in their squad. The current T20 World Champions West Indies had a dramatic start to their T20 international debut.

The match was against New Zealand at Auckland in February 2006 and ended in a tie. The West Indies scored an average 126 in their innings and the hosts were left with an easy target of 127. The Kiwis were cruising along and required 47 runs in 9 overs with 7 wickets in hand. However, there was a collapse and the Kiwis were left to chase 17 runs in the last over. The duo of James Frankin and Shane Bond scored 16 runs and the match ended in a tie.

A tie led to a bowl out and New Zealand won the bowl out by a margin of 3-0. Nevertheless, the West Indies had announced their arrival on the international stage in T20 cricket.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is another team which was involved in a nail-biting encounter in their maiden T20 international. The island nation ended up on the winning side when they beat hosts England by a margin of 2 runs in their maiden T20 appearance.

Riding on Sanath Jayasuriya’s 41, the Sri Lankan team managed to score 163 runs in the 20 allotted overs. The hosts ended 2 runs short of the target and the chief destroyer with the ball was once again Sanath Jayasuriya who picked up 2 wickets in 4 overs.

Pakistan

Just like Sri Lanka, Pakistan too beat England in their maiden T20 international appearance. The year was 2006 and the venue for Pakistan’s first ever T20 international was Bristol.

Batting first the hosts scored 144 runs in 20 overs with Marcus Trescothick top scoring for the hosts. Abdul Razzaq was the pick of the bowlers and he had figures of 3-30 in 4 overs.

Pakistan chased down the target with 5 wickets in hand and 13 balls remaining. Shahid Afridi for his breezy knock of 28 of 10 balls was named the Man of the Match.

India

1st December 2006 was the date when team India played its first-ever T20 international. The Men in Blue played their first ever T20 encounter against South Africa at Johannesburg.

India restricted the hosts to a moderate score of 126 for 9 in the 20 overs. Albie Morkel top-scored for the South Africans and Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar picked up 2 wickets each to restrict the South Africans.

India struggled in the chase but eventually got over the line in 19.5 overs. Dinesh Karthik scored an unbeaten 31 runs off 28 balls to guide India to victory and was named the Man of the Match.

India thus triumphed in their maiden T20 international.

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