Remembering 11 September 2007: Chris Gayle introduces himself to Twenty20, 19 years ago today.
The first match of the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 in 2007 produced the format's first international century. Chris Gayle smashed 117 off 57 deliveries but still finished on the losing side, an early warning that Twenty20 was set to be unreasonable.
In 2007, the format was still young enough to require explanation.
The first men's T20I was played in 2005. Many administrators treated the format as a promotional novelty, while traditionalists approached it as though somebody had proposed replacing the covers at Lord's with a bouncy castle. The first ICC-sanctioned tournament for the format in South Africa was meant to discover whether a brief domestic entertainment could support an international competition.
Chris Gayle answered the commercial part of the question in the tournament opener.