India batsman Suryakumar Yadav has continued his phenomenal form in T20Is as he was named the Player of the Series in India’s 2-1 series win over South Africa. Ranked number 2 in ICC T20I men’s T20I batsmen ranking, Suryakumar Yadav is now closing in on Pakistan opener Mohammad Rizwan, who holds the numero uno spot in the format. Babar Azam and Aiden Markram are 3rd and 4th.
Suryakumar was in red-hot form against Australia and South Africa. Against the Aussies, he scored 115 runs in 3 knocks at a strike rate of 185, and against the Proteas, 119 runs in 3 innings at a strike rate of 195. He plundered back-to-back match-winning fifties against South Africa to help India seal the series.
With 838 rating points, Suryakumar is now only 16 points behind Rizwan, who has 854 rating points. He will get the chance to climb past Rizwan in the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia.
Rizwan recently finished the home T20I series against England with 316 runs in 6 knocks, but his strike rate of 138 is much lower than what Suryakumar Yadav’s.
Suryakumar is also, comfortably, the leading T20I run-scorer in 2022: the 32-year-old India batter has scored 801 runs this year; among full members, Rizwan is second with 620 runs.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam kept his 3rd position intact, scoring 285 runs against England, including scores of 110* and 87*.
India opener KL Rahul also made progress in the batters rankings. Rahul scored 108 runs in 2 knocks against South Africa, courtesy of which he moved up 7 spots to reach the 14th position.
For South Africa, the three left-handers who ransacked big runs against India – Quinton de Kock (up by 8 spots to 12th), Rilee Rossouw (up by 23 spots to 20th) and David Miller (up by 10 spots to 29th) – also saw their batting rankings being boosted.
Among bowlers, Josh Hazlewood of Australia keeps his top spot in the T20I men’s bowlers ranking while Rashid Khan jumped two spots to claim the second position. Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasarang and Adam Zampa are next in line with both Tabraiz Shamsi and Adil Rashid dropping points.
