The International Cricket Council on Friday announced that the ICC World Twenty20 will now be official renamed as the ICC T20 World Cup.

This means that the next edition of the tournament to be held in Australia in 2020 will be called as the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup and the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.

The tournament has been known only as the ICC World Twenty20 ever since it was launched in 2007 in South Africa with the ‘World Cup’ tag being reserved only for the 50-over edition.

The move to rename the tournament has been welcomed by the skippers of Australia, India, Pakistan among others.

“It’s exciting for Australia to be hosting both the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2020,” Australia limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch stated.

“Representing your country in a World Cup is a huge honour, and winning the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2015 on home soil was an incredible feeling. Now, we get the chance to take on the world’s best T20 teams in Australia as part of this showcase event,” he added.

India skipper Virat Kohli too hailed the decision as he looked forward to the 2020 edition Down Under.

“I’m really excited for the opportunity to be part of the T20 World Cup in Australia. The pinnacle event for T20 cricket is rightly now the World Cup. India won the first edition of the World T20 in 2007 and it would be a great moment to hold the T20 World Cup trophy aloft in Australia,” said Kohli.

Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed, whose team is the No1 ranked T20 outfit in the world, welcomed the ICC’s decision to provide some context to the 20-0ver tournament.

“By renaming the World T20 as T20 World Cup, the ICC has enhanced the reputation, value and prestige of this extremely difficult and challenging tournament. This event has previously been referred to differently in marketing and digital campaigns, television broadcast, media reports and, as such, there was no clarity on where this event was ranked amongst the other ICC events. I am sure this amendment will give the event its due credit and well-deserved identity,” Sarfraz said.

“Pakistan is the best T20I side in the world and I am sure we will be an even better and stronger outfit when the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup takes place in the second half of 2020. After next year’s ICC Cricket World Cup, we will shift our attention to the 20-over format and will aim to add another T20 World Cup to our collection,” he continued.