India's Suryakumar Yadav enters record books on his captaincy debut
Days after falling short in the ICC Cricket World Cup final against Australia, Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav tormented the same opposition with his blade in Visakhapatnam. He smashed a 42-ball 80, helping India chase down a mammoth 209 in the 1st T20I. Suryakumar, who led India in Hardik Pandya's absence, now has the highest T20I score by an India captain on their captaincy debut.
A captain's knock from Suryakumar
Suryakumar gained redemption with a scintillating knock against the Aussies. He played with his usual bravado after India were reduced to 22/2 while chasing. Suryakumar played a captain's knock, having slammed 80 off 42 balls, a knock studded with a staggering 9 fours and 4 sixes. SKY departed toward the end after smashing his 16th T20I half-century. Rinku Singh eventually got India home.
Suryakumar breaks this record
As mentioned, Suryakumar has recorded the highest T20I score by an India captain on their captaincy debut. As per Bharath Seervi, he broke the record of KL Rahul, who smashed 62 while leading India against Afghanistan in the 2022 T20 Asia Cup.
Suryakumar gets the baton!
On November 23, Suryakumar became the 13th different player to lead India in T20I cricket. Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, and Rituraj Gaikwad are the others. As per ESPNcricinfo, Suryakumar became the ninth Indian captain in T20Is since the start of 2021.
SKY receives his 13th MoM award in T20Is
For his breathtaking knock, Suryakumar was adjudged the Player of the Match. He received this award for the 13th time in T20I cricket. SKY now has the third-most man-of-the-match awards in the shortest format after Virat Kohli (15) and Mohammad Nabi (14). After the Visakhapatnam T20I, the Indian batter went past Rohit Sharma (12) on this list.
Suryakumar Yadav: A giant in T20Is
Suryakumar has been ruling the T20I format since his debut in March 2021. He boasts 1,921 runs in 54 T20Is at 46.85, striking at 173.37. The tally includes three centuries and 16 fifties. Last year, SKY became the first Indian cricketer to slam over 1,000 T20I runs in a calendar year. He finished with 1,164 runs in 2022, striking at 187.43.
Highest strike rate in T20Is
Suryakumar has 19 fifty-plus scores in T20I cricket. His strike rates in each of these innings read as (starting from his first) - 183.8, 147.06, 155, 209.6, 212.7, 172.7, 261.5, 191.6, 151.5, 277.2, 204, 170, 244, 217.6, 141.66, 219.60, 188.64, 135.55, and 190.47. Suryakumar has an overall strike rate of 173.37 in T20Is, the highest by any batter (Minimum: 1,000 runs).
