There are three formats of cricket played at the international level – Test matches, One-Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals. These tournaments and championships are played under the rules and regulations approved by the International Cricket Council.
Important Cricket Tournaments and Championships
Based on the global reach and amazing popularity here goes the list of the Top 7 Most Popular Cricket Tournaments in the world.
ICC Cricket World Cup
It is the most prestigious and honorable tournament and the biggest cricket bash, taking place once in every 4 years, and is also the home of best matches in world cups. This is the world’s most viewed cricket event. Meanwhile, ICC claims it as the biggest and of course number one event in the Cricket having a good number of matches. The event has 4 stages, Super 8, 6, also semi-finals and finals.
Teams put their utmost effort on Cricket’s best trophy and tournament. Every cricket player aspires to win, and every cricket lover dreams their country to hold.
ICC Champions Trophy
It is an ICC initiative tournament and stands stoic as the second important after the great World Cup. Initially, it had the name as ICC Knockout tournament and later it got this name. It also has a mini world cup. Sadly, this is the last Champions trophy 2013 which has come to the final stages now. No wonder this most viewed cricket tournament got its spot in the list of Top 10 Most Popular Cricket Tournaments in the world.
T20 World Cup
The trophy weighs up to 7.5 Kilograms and is the most popular Cricket tournament as is the shortest, and it has already witnessed some of the biggest sixes in cricket. It has the best source of entertainment and excitement. The very first tournament started in the year 2011 and surprisingly India took it away. That is how this format made a huge impact in India. And, T20 World Cup became highly popular in all the nations soon enough, making it one of the famous cricket tournaments around the world.
The excitement and energy are unimaginable! No exaggeration, here the strength and selection of shots matter rather than technique and the class defense. It is indeed one of the Top 10 Most Popular Cricket Tournaments in the world.
Ashes Series
The Ashes is the massive clash of two continents, two nations. It’s a great rivalry between England and Australia. Name of this tournament has a rather interesting background story. And when England faced defeat against Aussies in 1882. One of the Journalists wrote an Obituary, ‘in affectionate remembrance of English cricket which died at The Oval.
The body will be cremated, and the ashes were taken to Australia.’ Australian supremacy was reluctantly evident and then England took a pledge that they will be taking back the ashes and they did it in very next series.
Champions League Twenty20
It is also popular as CLT20. This is one of the famous global cricket tournaments in the domestic level cricket. Every year the top played cricketing nations participate in this tournament. And it is owned by 3 countries BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa.
All the domestic teams involving young and experienced players fight with the other team. It’s such a grand spectacle with the teams also giving the fine performance here. In simple words, it is the next level or the next step of the IPL. It is the newly emerged tournament which will, of course, need some time to establish itself.
Indian Premier League (IPL)
It is India’s most viewed sports phenomenon and a great name of popular world cricket. This is the tournament which unites youngsters, Indian players and super-expensive international players in the same squad. Most of the matches are nerve cracking and intensely exciting. It is the tournament which goes for 2 long months as summer bonanza. So far, there are being 15 seasons and almost all were in the news in every possible way.
It is also the source of many controversies. But still, this cricket tournament is the combination of glitz, glory, and glamour.
NatWest Series
An exclusively England-based One-day international tournament and is one of the very best cricket tournaments. It kicked off in the year 2000 and National Westminster Bank sponsored it. It is usually the triangular series where each team meets another twice in the series and the top two teams fight for finals at The Mecca of Cricket, and one of the best cricket stadiums in the world, Lords.
The most remarkable match was the final in the year 2004. India chased the massive target of 324 against England.
