On a pitch where South Africa managed only 106 runs in 20 overs as the Indian pacers ran riot, and India’s famed top-three of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli combined scored 54 runs in 67 balls – Suryakumar Yadav came in all guns blazing and finished with 50* off 33 balls!
On the spicy, green, bouncy Thiruvananthapuram pitch, Suryakumar scored runs at a strike rate of 151 whereas the rest struggled at a strike rate of only 85.
Suryakumar Yadav breaks Dhawan’s big record in T20Is
With this knock of 54 runs, Suryakumar broke Shikhar Dhawan’s record of most runs by an Indian in T20Is in a calendar year.
In 2022, Suryakumar has now scored 732 runs in T20Is, which have come at an astonishing strike rate of 180. Among Indians, Dhawan previously held the record of most runs in a year in T20Is: in 2018, Dhawan recorded 689 runs in 17 innings at an average of 40 and strike rate of 147 with the help of 6 fifties. SKY, so far, has 732 runs in 21 innings at an average of 40 and strike rate of 180; this year, he notched up a T20I century – in England – and 5 half-centuries.
The overall record of most T20I runs for a batsman in a year is 1326, made by Pakistani opener Mohammad Rizwan in 2021; promoted as an opener, Rizwan turned his career and changed history as he raised 12 fifties and one century in T20Is last year along with the skipper and opening partner Babar Azam, who is second on the list with 939 runs also last year. Ireland opener Paul Stirling is third on the list with 748 runs from 2019.
Suryakumar Yadav- KL Rahul partnership of 93* bails India
There is still a big difference of 594 runs between Rizwan and Suryakumar. Given that Suryakumar bats at number 4, and plays a high risk game – unlike Rizwan who likes to bat at a moderate strike rate of around 130-135, it is incredibly difficult for Suryakumar to break Rizwan’s record.
In his knock today in Thiruvananthapuram, Suryakumar Yadav stroked 5 fours and 3 sixes and it felt he’d been batting on a different surface than everyone else. Indian pacers ran through the Protea top-order and had them reeling at 9/5 before Markram, Parnell and Maharaj carried them to over 100.
India too lost Rohit and Kohli early in the innings, and were 17/2 before SKY changed the game around quickly with KL Rahul taking his time in the middle. Rahul remained unbeaten on 51.
