Twenty teams, and a stadium that did not last the summer
The ninth men's T20 World Cup was the first with twenty sides and the first to be played, in part, in the United States. That second fact was the point. The ICC had spent a decade trying to open a market it could not reach, and the 2024 tournament was the lever: four groups of five, a Super 8 stage, then knockouts, spread across nine Caribbean grounds and three American ones. A 34,000-seat modular stadium was thrown up in Eisenhower Park at East Meadow on Long Island, its design unveiled in January and the ground finished in May, used for eight matches and then taken apart again.
Low scores, washouts and a Super Over in Dallas
Those New York pitches misbehaved. The ball seamed and stopped, batting collapsed, and the tournament's marquee fixture became a grind: India were bowled out for 119 and still won, restricting Pakistan to 113 for seven, Jasprit Bumrah taking three for 14. Florida provided the other sort of trouble, three matches at Central Broward washed away without a ball of consequence. The United States came through anyway, having already produced the upset of the group stage in Dallas by tying with Pakistan and winning the Super Over, Monank Patel making 50. Afghanistan went further still, beating New Zealand, Australia and Bangladesh to reach a maiden semi-final.
Bridgetown, 29 June
South Africa arrived in the final unbeaten and without a men's global final in their history. India arrived unbeaten too. Rohit Sharma's side made 176 for seven, Virat Kohli 76 from 59 balls after months of poor returns, and for most of the chase it looked insufficient. Heinrich Klaasen hit 52 from 27 balls and South Africa, needing thirty from thirty with six wickets standing, were favourites. Hardik Pandya then had Klaasen caught behind, and in the last over Suryakumar Yadav took the catch that decided the match, dismissing David Miller at long-off with his left foot inches from the boundary cushion. The third umpire confirmed it. South Africa lost by seven runs.
What it settled
India became the first team to win a men's T20 World Cup without losing a match, and ended an eleven-year wait for a global trophy. Rohit Sharma, Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja all retired from the format that night; Rahul Dravid's tenure as coach ended with them. Fazalhaq Farooqi and Arshdeep Singh shared the wicket-taking record with seventeen apiece, Bumrah was player of the tournament, and South Africa were left carrying a familiar description into another cycle. Expansion was judged a success on its own terms, and the twenty-team format was kept for 2026.