2016 ICC World Twenty20 Overview: India’s Premier Hosting of International T20 Cricket Championship, Key Matches, Top Performers, and West Indies’ Victory
The sixth edition of the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup was held in India. It was the first time in history that India hosted the T20 World Cup 2016. By hosting this tournament, the nation has put four moons to this Iconic event of the ICC T20 World Cup. This time in this edition of T20 World Cup 2016, West Indies won this title for the second time after defeating England. West Indies won this title for the first time in 2012. This time it was the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka and it was the first time that a host nation reached the final. West Indies played against Sri Lanka in the final and defeated Sri Lanka. It was the first time in the history of T20 cricket that West Indies won the first tournament. This time ICC T20 Cricket World Cup 2024 is co-hosted by West Indies with USA, it is to be seen whether West Indies can win this tournament and keep the third crown on their head or not.
The matches were played in seven vibrant Indian cities – Bangalore, Dharamshala, Kolkata, Mohali, Mumbai, Nagpur, and New Delhi – and their distinct cultural background was demonstrated during the tournament. This championship consisted of 16 teams, among which 10 chose participants on their own, as full members of the International Cricket Council. The other six – qualifiers emerged in a fierce battle at the 2015 World Twenty20 Qualifier.
The whole process took place in three stages, characterized by the ramping up of the stress level. Eight lower-ranked teams initially fought in the first stage, and only two of them were able to rise to the next level. Two winners got there accompanied by six top-ranked teams in the so-called Super 10 stage. During it, the top eight teams competed with two winners of the earlier stage in a series of matches marked by increased competition, excitement, and importance.
Four best teams at the end of the Super 10 stage, participated in the knockout stage, intending to leave the tournament as winners. I was an honored guest of the final match, that thrilled the fans from all over the world with its exciting and dramatic course. The West Indies won this clash with England in Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, defeating them by four wickets only . As I have mentioned, Twenty20 cricket has a character developed by the demand of unpredictability and interest. Therefore, the best player of the tournament was, as is the case, a batsman – Virat Kohli of India. Not surprisingly, according to the statistics, the best batsman, or run-scorer, was Bangladesh’s, Tamim Iqbal. The best bowler, or wicket-taker, proved to be Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi.
teams
The 2016 ICC World Twenty20 was a very large tournament, with 16 teams participating. This was only the second time that the event had so many participating teams. The ten full members of the International Cricket Council had automatically qualified for the tournament. They were joined by 6 associate members who had made it into the tournament through their performance in the 2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier.
This qualifier took place from July 6, 2015, to July 26, 2015, in Ireland and Scotland. The opportunity for such international gameplay made the event truly a full-world affair. One of the most notable debuts in the World Twenty20 tournament’s history was Oman, who made it to the big stage for the first time in the 2016 tournament.
The tournament’s schedule was determined in a way that took into consideration the ICC T20I Championship rankings as of April 30, 2014. Consequently, the top eight full member nations would make it to the Super 10 stage, while the remaining eight teams would battle for the remaining spots, including 2 associate members in the round-robin group stage. During this competitive run, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, as an associate nation, made it to the Super 10 Table by making it from the group stage. Neither Zimbabwe nor Ireland made it to the Super 10, revealing just how intense the competition was and how high the stakes were.
The political and security issues were also significant. In October 2015, Shahryar Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, made statements regarding Pakistan’s participation in the World Twenty20, citing the possible cricket series against India. Although the series was canceled, the Pakistani government granted clearance for the team to visit India for the cricket tournament in February 2016. In a move to ensure the players and staff’s safety was assured, Pakistan sent a delegation to India in early March to inspect the security levels. Based on the findings and PCB’s fears, the board decided that the high-profile India-Pakistan faceoff meant to occur in Dharamsala be relocated to Kolkata, Eden Gardens. Pakistan confirmed their travel to India on March 11, an indication of their participation in the tournament.
Venues
The venues were several iconic stadiums across the country that brought their individual atmosphere and number of spectators combined to grace the grand event that was the ICC World Twenty20 hosted in India in 2016. Considering the tournament, the three particularly selected venues were Bangalore’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium with a 40,000 seats capacity, Dharamshala’s HPCA Stadium hosting 23,000 spectators, and Mohali’s PCA IS Bindra Stadium capable of accommodating 26,950 fans.
All the venues had a given number of matches to host; Bangalore and Mohali had three games each while Dharamshala had seven. Aside from these, being one of the most well-known cricket stadiums on the globe is another one of the exceptional venues in play. This includes Eden Gardens in Kolkata which had five matches including the final and a 66,349-capacity stand. Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium had 32,000 seats, and four matches, including a crucial semi-final.
Nagpur’s Stadium had 45,000 spectators and hosted no less than nine matches while New Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla with 40,715 fans had a share of the games. On July 21, 2015, the India Cricket Board announced the city hosts of the tournament games. Chennai was to be one of the venues, but due to legal complications regarding the erection of three stands at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, the city lost all match hosting privileges. Moreover, the VCA Stadium in Nagpur was to host all Group B games, whereas the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala was to host all Group A matches.
Originally, the India versus Pakistan game was to be hosted at HPCA Stadium but was later relocated to Eden Gardens in Kolkata due to the security concerns around Pakistan players in that region. The Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi was also not allowed to host the first semi-final due to the need for one of the blocks to obtain a clearance certificate from the South Delhi Municipal Corporation. However, the clearance was given after the March 23 decision by the DDCA, and the venue got to host the game on the set date.
Prize money
Moreover, out of the $10 million total prize money for the tournament, the 2018 tournament’s total was a 33% increase from the 2014 tournament. This drastic increase reflects the increased prominence that the Twenty20 format continues to call in cricket captured the attention of the global audience. The prize money was made to be won through the incentivizing performance checks that encouraged the teams to perform well in all the tournaments’ different stages.
The winning team was awarded $1.6 million, showing the high stakes that were involved, and the first runners-up were awarded $800,000 teams that got knocked out at the semi-finals stage were awarded $400,000 as losses attributable to reduced levels of performance. Furthermore, a bonus of $50,000 was awarded to each team for every win in the “Super 10 round” to motivate the teams to give their best shot in every match. All the 16 teams that took part in the tournament received a guaranteed Participation Bonus of $300,000. The structured distribution of the prize money ensured that the participating teams benefited from the tournament.
Semi-Finals & Final
The 2016 ICC World Twenty20 was a spectacular international cricketing extravaganza. Apart from the thrilling matches, which left viewers on the edge of their seats, teams and individual players stole the show with their performances. The 2016 ICC World Twenty20 was defined by fiercely competitive matches, intelligent strategies, and moments that went down in history, making it one of the most memorable fixtures in the world of international cricket. The semi-final that took place on the 30th of March was between New Zealand and England at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium. New Zealand ended their innings with a target of 153/8 with 46 runs off 33 balls by Colin Munro. England, on the other hand, successfully chased after scoring 159/3 in 17.1 overs. Jason Roy scored 78 runs off 44 balls, the innings included the second-fastest 50 by an England player in the history of the World Twenty20 – achieved in just 26 balls. Ben Stokes took 3 wickets after 26 runs for England, and Ish Sodhi took 42 runs after claiming 2 wickets.
England emerged victorious with a 7-wicket win, earning their place in the finals. The match played on the following day, the 31st of March, was between India and the West Indies at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. India scored 192/2, with Virat Kohli scoring the highest with 89 not out. The West Indies stole the match, scoring 196/3 in 19.4 overs. Lendl Simmons with 82 not out paved the way for the West Indies to win and was named the Player of the Match. It was the highest run chase achieved in a successful knockout match in World Twenty20 history.
The final match occurred on the 3rd of April at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, where England and the West Indies played for the championship. The West Indies, after winning the toss and choosing to field first, set a target of 155/9 for England. Joe Root was the top scorer for England, who scored 54 runs in total. In the 19th over, needing 19 to win, Carlos Brathwaite from the West Indies hit four consecutive sixes off Ben Stokes. This helped the West Indies win the match, and Marlon Samuels, who scored 85 not out, the highest score in a World T20 final, also got the Man of the Match.
His achievement was the second in a World T20 final, having been awarded the first in 2012. The final was significant since on that day, the West Indies women’s cricket team had two years running the ICC World Twenty20, becoming the first team, male and female, to win both on the same day. Statistical highlights in the tournament contained the Bengali Tamim Iqbal, with 295 runs. He had a high score of 103 not out, making him the leading run-scorer in the series. The Afghan Mohammad Nabi, on the other hand, led the wicket-takers list with 12, showcasing his all-rounder expertise.
