The little-known Jaipur origins of the T20 World Cup trophy

As the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup final captures the attention of cricket fans, the tournament’s trophy is inextricably linked with Jaipur, where it was made.Jaipur-based designer Amit Pabuwal said the T20 World Cup trophy was made after Australian player Minale Bryce came up with the initial design concept.

Prabhuwar said that the design outline of the trophy was formulated in 2007, the year when the first T20 World Cup was held. After the design was completed, the International Cricket Council commissioned him to create the trophy.See also: IND vs NZ T20 World Cup Trophy Live Score“Once the design outline was finalized, the ICC assigned me the job of making the trophy. This is how the 2007 ICC T20 World Cup trophy was made,” he told news agency PTI.Prabhuwar said he had earlier designed the world’s largest silver ‘Friendship Cup’ cricket trophy, which attracted attention, following which the ICC approached him for the T20 World Cup trophy.“The International Cricket Federation initially planned to use a combination of titanium and glass for the trophy so that the design would reflect the fast and modern style of T20 cricket,” he said.“Several prototypes were prepared, but the glass components repeatedly broke when integrated with the metal structure, making the concept technically difficult to execute. After several experiments, I suggested that this combination was not technically feasible.”He said the final version of the trophy would be made of silver and plated with platinum, which would make it durable and suitable for international events.Prabhuwar added that the original trophy is kept at the ICC headquarters while the winning team received an identical replica.He said the trophy is about 21 inches tall, weighs about 6 kilograms and is made of platinum-plated silver.Meanwhile, India is chasing several milestones in the finals. Their goal is to become the first host nation to win the T20 World Cup, the first team to defend the title and the first team to win the tournament three times.India has reached the finals four times, the most of any team. Six of the previous nine finals were edge-chasing wins. India has won two of the remaining three tournaments – in 2007 and 2024 – both decided in the finals.