Suryakumar Yadav further strengthens his claim as not just the best T20I batter currently, but of all time after he smacked his second T20I century – both coming in 2022, which has been his peak year – against New Zealand on Sunday at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui.
The 32-year-old gave pasting to the New Zealand bowlers, both pacers and spinners, carting them around the park to score 111 unbeaten runs off 51 balls. SKY walloped 11 fours and 7 sixes in his extraordinary innings as others struggled around him to hit boundaries and time the ball well.
India posted a total of 191 out of which 111 were scored by Suryakumar Yadav himself; 11 were extras: the rest scored 69 runs off 69 balls. Tells you the difference between Suryakumar Yadav and his teammates; the level at which he’s operating currently is far above the rest.
Suryakumar Yadav is having a sensational 2022 in T20Is
He’s the leading run-scorer in T20Is this year with 1151 runs at an average of 47 and a strike rate of 188 – just a sensational blend of the two stats. He had hit a century in England, then bossed the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia, and now has a century in New Zealand.
Today, Suryakumar came into bat at number 3 in the 6th over and got going with a boundary off Ferguson. Yadav was on 11 off 10 balls when he hit his first six, to Santner, and there was no stopping him after that.
He picked up boundaries off both Santner and Sodhi before hitting a six and four to Ferguson. In quick time Suryakumar raced to his fifty off 32 balls; in an even faster lighting speed, he rumbled to a three-figure score, notching up his century in 49 balls.
Yadav’s assault on the Kiwi seamers was jaw-dropping: 2 fours and a six to Southee in the 17th over; 2 sixes to Milne in the 18th; and then 4 fours and a six to Ferguson in the 19th.
Netizens were left astonished with Suryakumar Yadav’s mindblowing century:
Hundred for Suryakumar Yadav, 2nd in T20I, he has been in some special form this year.
He is leading Indian T20I batting. pic.twitter.com/tH7KgxJyjk
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) November 20, 2022
Hundred by Suryakumar Yadav in just 49 balls – another impeccable knock by Sky!
He’s just unstoppable at the moment, what a player! pic.twitter.com/yibMEBbdNJ
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) November 20, 2022
Suryakumar Yadav in T20I in 2022:
Innings – 30
Runs – 1151
Average – 47.95
Strike Rate – 188.37
Fifty – 9
Hundreds – 2
Fours – 105
Sixes – 67He is just illegal in this year.
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) November 20, 2022
Kane Williamson seeing Suryakumar Yadav. pic.twitter.com/7nL40ixvIX
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) November 20, 2022
Everytime we watch Suryakumar Yadav bat: pic.twitter.com/kdCUfRDKho
— Prasenjit Dey (@CricPrasen) November 20, 2022
Alien SuryaKumar Yadav🥵 built different pic.twitter.com/prqQ3vUjqa
— Shivani (@meme_ki_diwani) November 20, 2022
Suryakumar Yadav ensures crowd around the ground gets camera on them at least once.
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) November 20, 2022
How has he scored almost 1400 runs in just 39 innings and his strike rate is over 180. My man Suryakumar Yadav is tapping A in real life ffs.
— Heisenberg ☢ (@internetumpire) November 20, 2022
Suryakumar Yadav: 111 off 51 balls
Everyone else: 69 off 69 ballsSKY in a league of his own.
— CricBlog ✍ (@cric_blog) November 20, 2022
Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav.
3 Indian men cricketers to have more than one T20I century.
— Gurkirat Singh Gill (@gurkiratsgill) November 20, 2022
Suryakumar Yadav with his second century in T20Is. Unbelievable, crazy, insane! As we say, SKY is limitless. @surya_14kumar 🔥🔥#NZvINDonPrize @RevSportz
— Subhayan Chakraborty (@CricSubhayan) November 20, 2022
Suryakumar Yadav becomes the first player with 1000 T20I runs as non-opener in a year.
— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) November 20, 2022
Suryakumar Yadav now has 1,395 runs at 45/182 in 39 T20I innings, including 2 centuries and 12 50s.
Such numbers are difficult to maintain even in video games.
We’re basically witnessing magic. This is mind-boggling.
— Sparsh Telang (@_cricketsparsh) November 20, 2022
Suryakumar Yadav is making T20I cricket look easier than all the cricket video games that have ever existed.
— Gurkirat Singh Gill (@gurkiratsgill) November 20, 2022
Suryakumar Yadav in T20Is:
Innings – 39
Runs – 1395
Average – 45
Strike Rate – 181.6
50s/100s – 12/2The Greatest Batsman in the history of the format? pic.twitter.com/zTyaqbI11f
— 12th Khiladi (@12th_khiladi) November 20, 2022
Suryakumar Yadav has more runs in T20Is in 2022 than Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya have in their T20I careers.
7th in the top run-getters for India in T20Is in 2 years of his career. #NZvIND
— Rohit Sankar (@imRohit_SN) November 20, 2022
SKY has done the SENA in my books. Hundreds in England and New Zealand and a hundred vs South Africa in Australia 👍
— Prashanth S (@ps_it_is) November 20, 2022
Take A BOW SURYAKUMAR YADAV..
Just incredible batting…
He is making it look so easy to play behind square than it is..
The best Indian T20 batter of all time. #INDvsNZ— Jatin Khandelwal (@jr_khandelwal) November 20, 2022
