From finals decided by fine margins to feats that still feel scarcely believable, the T20 World Cup has quietly built a rich numerical history of its own. To set the ball rolling ahead of the 2026 edition, here's a countdown of 20 nerdy, quirky and genuinely telling stats that capture the tournament's extremes, evolutions and enduring moments.

20 - Recency first, and a scarcely believable one to start with! Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Arshdeep Singh collectively conceded just 20 runs (barring byes/leg-byes) in Overs 16-20 in the T20 World Cup 2024 final at Bridgetown, Barbados. And that came when a 24-run 15th over had reduced the equation to a run-a-ball 30 for South Africa. A measure of how incredible that collective effort was: across the 54 team innings in T20 World Cup knockouts (27 matches), India bowlers' economy rate of 4 (20 runs in 5 overs) in Overs 16-20 on that day ranks the best. For further context, the combined economy rate in Overs 16-20 for all T20 World Cup knockout games till date is 9.96.

19 runs is the highest target gunned down in the 20th over of a T20 World Cup match, and it came on the grandest stage of all - the final - of the 2016 edition at the Eden Gardens. The protagonist? Of course, you "Remember the name!"

18 - The highest boundary count in an individual innings in the T20 World Cup, a record held by Brendon McCullum who smashed 11 fours and seven sixes during his 123 against Bangladesh in Pallekele in 2012. Chris Gayle holds the record for most sixes in an innings: 11 against England at Wankhede in 2016, while Herschelle Gibbs does that for most fours: 14 against West Indies in the first ever T20 World Cup game at the Wanderers, Johannesburg in 2007.

17 - Number of different opponents Shakib Al Hasan played against in the T20 World Cup, the most for a player, followed by 16 each for fellow countrymen Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah, and Afghanistan's Mohammad Nabi. Shakib and Rohit Sharma are the only players to have played at least one game in each of the first nine editions. Zimbabwe's Brendan Taylor is the only player from the inaugural edition (2007), who will also feature in 2026.

16 years 335 days - UAE's Aayan Afzal Khan is the youngest to feature in a T20 World Cup game, having made his first appearance against Netherlands in Geelong during the 2022 edition. Mohammad Amir, Rashid Khan, Ahmed Shehzad and George Dockrell are the other players to have featured in the T20 World Cup before turning 18.

15 instances of an Associate team defeating a full-member side in Men's T20 World Cup history. Netherlands have been the prominent giant-killers with four such wins, having defeated England twice (2009 and 2014) and Zimbabwe and South Africa respectively in 2022, knocking the latter out of the semi-final race then. Afghanistan's last over triumph against the West Indies in Nagpur in 2016 was remarkably the only defeat for the eventual champions in that edition. Other noteworthy ones are Scotland against West Indies in Hobart in 2022 and USA against Pakistan in New York in 2024 - both of which led to the former title-winners' exit from the first round. Italy is the newest entrant to the competition, set to make their debut in the upcoming edition. They will be the 15th Associate team to feature at the T20 World Cup.

14 - 13.95 to be precise - In one of the most remarkable T20 World Cup games, Netherlands needed to chase down a 190-run target in 14.2 overs against Ireland in 2014 to advance to the next round, and they completed it in 13.5 overs, going at a run-rate of 13.95 - the highest in a T20 WC team innings of at least seven overs. 37 balls remaining remains the most for any successful T20 World Cup chase above 160, and the joint third-most in all Men's T20Is. Netherlands had another memorable outing 10 days later, as they beat England by 45 runs in Chattogram.

13 instances of a team using 11 or 12 players throughout a T20 World Cup edition. Three had a team using the same XI throughout - West Indies in their first round exit in 2007 (two matches) and then in their run to the semis in 2014, as did Pakistan in 2021. Of the other 10 instances of a team using 12 players through the competition - three resulted in title wins: England in 2010, Australia in 2021 and India in 2024.

12 dismissals for Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal and Kamran Akmal as a bowler-wicketkeeper (or fielder) pair, a T20 World Cup record. A rather unbelievable aspect: 11 of those were stumpings!

11 - Absolute close finishes in T20 World Cup excluding the five tied matches - criteria: victories by 1 run defending a total (6) or successful chases completed off the final ball (5). India account for three of these 11 wins - vs South Africa in 2012, vs Bangladesh in 2016 and vs Pakistan in 2022, the most for a team, while Pakistan has been on the receiving end most often - against New Zealand in 2010, and against India and Zimbabwe in 2022.

10 consecutive defeats for Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup across the first four editions is the longest such streak in the competition's history. They had defeated the West Indies in Johannesburg in 2007 to advance through to the Super 8s, but had to wait until the 2014 edition at home to register their next win. PNG is next in this list at 7 (ongoing streak). Overall, Bangladesh have four sequences of five or more consecutive defeats in T20 WC - the most for any team.

9 players have featured in two T20 World Cup final wins (playing XIs). Eight of them - Daren Sammy, Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Russell, Samuel Badree, Johnson Charles and Denesh Ramdin - featured in the 2012 as well as the 2016 title clash for the West Indies, Samuels being the Player of the Final in both. Rohit Sharma became the latest entrant in this list in 2024, after having also featured in the inaugural final at the Wanderers, Johannesburg in 2007.

8 bowlers have bagged hat-tricks in T20 World Cup history - Brett Lee, Curtis Campher, Wanindu Hasaranga, Kagiso Rabada, Karthik Meiyappan, Josh Little, Pat Cummins and Chris Jordan. The standout ones are Campher and Cummins - while the former bagged four wickets in four balls against Netherlands in Abu Dhabi in 2021 (Colin Ackermann, Ryan ten Doeschate, Scott Edwards, Roelof van der Merwe), Cummins achieved the feat in back-to-back games (against Bangladesh and Afghanistan respectively) in 2024.

7 wins for India against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup (including the tied finish in Durban in 2007) is the most for a team against an opponent in the competition's history, their only defeat coming during the 2021 edition in Dubai. Australia and Pakistan (both 6-0 vs Bangladesh) and Sri Lanka (6-2 vs West Indies) jointly hold the second-spot in this list.

6 sixes - Yuvraj Singh's six sixes in an over against Stuart Broad in Durban in 2007 remains one of the most iconic moments in the T20 World Cup history. Four others have struck six sixes in an over since in T20Is, one from a full-member side: Kieron Pollard off Akila Dananjaya in Antigua in 2021.

5 players have represented two different teams (countries) in T20 World Cup: Dirk Nannes (Netherlands and Australia), Roelof van der Merwe (Netherlands and South Africa), Mark Chapman (Hong Kong and New Zealand), Corey Anderson (New Zealand and USA) and David Wiese (South Africa and Namibia).

4 maidens is the maximum one can bowl in a T20 game, and Lockie Ferguson did the unimaginable against Papua New Guinea in Tarouba in 2024. There have been exactly four such instances in all Men's T20 cricket, three in internationals, and that's the only one in T20 World Cup history, and the only one to feature a full-member side. In fact, Ferguson's four maidens is also the joint-most for anyone in T20 WC history (aggregated), alongside as many for Harbhajan Singh and Mohammad Amir.

3 Player of the Match awards for Virat Kohli against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup (2012, 2016 and 2022), the most by a player against an opponent. Overall, Kohli had eight POTM awards in the tournament, the most, followed by five each to Chris Gayle, Mahela Jayawardene, Shane Watson and Adam Zampa.

2 - Glenn Maxwell hit the winning runs in the T20 World Cup 2021 final against New Zealand in Dubai, as well as at the ODI World Cup 2023 final against India in Ahmedabad, making him the only player to hit the winning runs in a World Cup final in both white-ball formats. The only other player to hit the winning runs in two different ICC Men's tournament finals is Shane Watson, who did that in Champions Trophy 2006 and 2009 respectively, and was at the other end when Steven Smith did that in the 2015 ODI WC final in Melbourne.

1 - Yusuf Pathan is the only cricketer to have made his international debut in the final of a Men's ICC tournament (ODI WC, T20 WC or Champions Trophy), having done so in the inaugural T20 World Cup edition against Pakistan in Johannesburg, replacing Virender Sehwag. It's also the only instance of a player making his or her international debut in a T20 World Cup playoffs game (semis or the final) - Men's or Women's.