It were the Kiwi bowlers who found themselves at the receiving end as Suryakumar Yadav pulled out yet another gem of a knock out of his ability casket, to awe-inspire the cricketing fraternity for the umpteenth time this year.
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During the second of the three-match T20I series between India and New Zealand at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, the Kiwis were humbled by 65 runs, largely due to the exploits off Yadav’s bat, which smashed its second T20I century tonight.
Coming in to bat at no.3 in the order, the 32-year-old went at nearly run-a-ball for around half-a-dozen deliveries that he had faced, but turned out to be an unstoppable force once he decided to play the field with some of his trademarks shots to leave the Kiwi bowlers on their haunches, and the crowd on their feet in appreciation.
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The scarce resource that the Overs are in a T20 game, made sure that his innings ended on an unbeaten 111* off mere 51 deliveries, with India posting a healthy total of 191/6 in their 20 Overs.
His innings comprised of a total of 11 Fours and 7 Sixes, with run-scoring at an unbelievable strike rate of 217.65, which has been the highlight of his short T20I career so far.
Most runs in T20 in one year
Having become the only batter to have breached the 1000-run mark in T20Is this year during the T20 World Cup itself, Suryakumar Yadav has further strengthened his claim at the top-spot in the highest run-getters list in the format in 2022.
Post his tonight’s innings, Yadav has now accumulated 1,151 runs across 30 innings this year, at an average and strike rate of 47.95 and 188.37 respectively.
Placed at the second spot is Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan, who has amassed 996 runs this year across 25 innings, at an average of 45.27.
Across all T20 matches in a calendar year, it is Rizwan who stands tall at the first spot, having piled on 2,036 runs in the year 2021 across 45 innings at an average of 56.55, while playing for Pakistan, Multan Sultans (PSL), and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Has SKY scored most runs in T20 international in a calendar year?
Suryakumar Yadav is placed second in this respect, below Rizwan himself, who holds the record for aggregating most runs in a calendar year in T20Is.
The Pakistan wicket-keeper cum opening batter had piled on 1,326 runs across 26 innings last year, at an unbelievable average of 73.66, with the help of 12 fifties and one century.
With only one T20I left to be played by team India this year, Yadav stands short by 175 runs to have this particular record under his name, and replace Rizwan.
