In 2001, Stuart Robertson, marketing manager, ECB, proposed a 20 over per innings game to county chairmen and the votes were in favor of adopting the new format. A media group was invited for giving a name to the new format of the game and finally, T20 was selected as the title of the match.
When the Benson & Hedges Cup ended in the year 2002, the ECB needed a one day competition to take its place. The cricketing authorities wanted to increase the popularity of the game, particularly among the young generation and those cricket lovers who could not watch the entire match due to its longer versions. T20 cricket was intended to attract a larger crowd and also increase the sponsorship.
On June 13, 2003, the first official T20 matches were played between a variety of English counties in the T20 Cup. At Lord's, the first T20 game was played on July 15, 2004 between Middlesex and Surrey and this match attracted a large crowd. Since then, T20 has spread throughout the world. The inaugural World T20 was played in South Africa in the year 2007 where India defeated Pakistan in the final match by just 5 runs.
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