The best cricket players in the world recently gathered in Bangladesh to compete in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament. Organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC), the games were played from March 16 to April 6, 2014 in three cities of Dhaka, Chittagong, and Sylhet. Although this was already the 5th ICC World Twenty20 competition, it was the second consecutive time that an Asian country, Bangladesh, hosted the event. The 2012 version was held in Sri Lanka.
Established in June 15, 1909, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is the international governing body of the popular sports of cricket. The ICC is headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and has 106 member countries including Bangladesh, Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Canada, and other countries. There are 10 Full Members that play official Test matches, 37 Associate Members, and 59 Affiliate Members.
The ICC World Twenty20, aka ICC World T20 or World Twenty20, is an international championship of Twenty20 cricket normally held every two years. The first ever tournament was held in 2007 in South Africa and was won by India. Twenty20 cricket, commonly shortened to T20, is a form of cricket that was first played in England and Wales for professional inter-county tournaments in 2003 and administered by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
Introduced to create a more lively form of cricket, a Twenty20 game can be completed in approximately three hours. Each inning lasts about 75-90 minutes with 10-20 minutes interval. Such is the worldwide popularity of the Twenty20 game that the ICC adopted the format and made it into an international competition in the form of the ICC World Twenty20 tournament.
The ICC World Twenty20 is played on a group stage and knockout format. Points are awarded to teams during Round 1 and Super 10 stages. 2 points for win, 1 point for no result/tie, zero for loss. During the 2014 tournament, 16 warm-up matches were played in March 12-19, 2014. In the Group stage, teams were clustered into Group A and Group B. In the Super 10, teams were organized into Group 1 and Group 2. In the Knockout stage, four teams competed in the Semifinals until two teams remain and competed in the championship round.
The following teams directly qualified for the Super 10: Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and West Indies. The following teams qualified for the group stage: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Ireland, Nepal, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, and Zimbabwe.
After holding thirty-five matches at three different venues, the tournament closed by declaring Sri Lanka as the champion. Virat Kohli of India was declared the Man of the Series as well as the player with the most runs of 319. Most wickets awards were given to Imran Tahir of South Africa and Ahsan Malik of Netherlands, each with 12 wickets.
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