<P> The first Twenty20 International match between two men's sides was played on 17 February 2005, involving Australia and New Zealand . Wisden Cricketers' Almanack reported that "neither side took the game especially seriously", and it was noted by ESPNcricinfo that but for a large score for Ricky Ponting, "the concept would have shuddered". However, Ponting himself said "if it does become an international game then I'm sure the novelty won't be there all the time". </P> <P> Two further matches were played that year; England beat Australia in June, and South Africa were defeated by New Zealand in October . Early the following year, a contest between New Zealand and the West Indies finished as the first tied match, and a tiebreak was played for the first time in men's international cricket: the two sides took part in a bowl - out to determine a winner; New Zealand won 3--0 . </P> <P> The game had initially been developed to boost the interest in domestic cricket, and to aid this the international teams were only allowed to host three T20Is each year . The cricket manager for the ICC, David Richardson, also commented that "Part of the success of Twenty20 cricket is making sure it can coexist with Test cricket and one - dayers ." Despite this, the first international tournament was held in 2007 in South Africa; the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 . That tournament was won by India, who defeated their close rivals Pakistan in the final . Writing for The Guardian, Dilip Premachandran suggested that the competition's success meant that "the format is here to stay". The next tournament was scheduled for 2009, and it was decided that they would take place biannually (more frequently than the 50 over Cricket World Cup, which occurs once every four years). In the opening match of the 2007 World Twenty20, Chris Gayle scored the first century in a T20I, the achievement being reached in the twentieth match of the format . </P> <P> The 500th T20I match was contested between Ireland and the United Arab Emirates at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on 16 February 2016 . </P>

Who has become the first batsman to score three hundreds in t20 internationals