Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav has extended his lead at the top of the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Batter Rankings after scoring a quickfire half-century in the second match of India’s T20I series against South Africa. The 33-year-old played a counter-attacking knock under pressure to help the Men in Blue post a good total on board.
Suryakumar Yadav hammered 56 runs off 36 deliveries including five fours and three series as India fell short in the thrilling fight in Gqeberha, and the aggressive right-hander received a total of 10 rating points as a result to extend his lead as the No.1 ranked batter in the game’s shortest format.
The Mumbai-born batter secured the top spot during the most recent edition of the T20 World Cup in Australia at the end of last year. On current form, the India batter would look to retain that position for next year’s tournament in the West Indies and the United States.
Suryakumar Yadav now has 865 rating points, comfortably ahead of Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan (787 rating points) and South Africa’s Aiden Markram (758) before the start of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in June.
In the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, he finished third highest run-getter, scoring 239 runs in six matches and striking at an eye-watering 189.68. All three of his fifties – against South Africa, Zimbabwe, and the Netherlands helped the Indian team to turn the game in favour of the Indian team in the marquee event before falling short in the semifinals.
While Suryakumar Yadav has been an absolute revelation in T20Is and is currently the number-one batsman in the world. The Indian “360-degree” batter would be keen to continue his fine form for the Indian team with the 2024 T20 World scheduled in June.
Suryakumar Yadav had to wait a long time for his India debut, making his T20I debut after the age of 30. But there’s been no stopping him since he’s amassed runs at an incredible rate. Suryakumar Yadav has 2041 runs with a strike rate of 171.22 in 59 T20Is.
Newly-crowned No.1 T20I bowler Ravi Bishnoi missed out on the selection in the South African tour thus far, as Afghanistan ace Rashid Khan has joined India’s young gun at the top of the T20I bowler rankings, with Proteas spinner Tabraiz Shamsi rising two places to 10th after an economical spell of 1/18 in their most recent match.
