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‘India’s own 360° player’ - Fans laud Suryakumar Yadav as he bags the T20I cricketer of the year 2022 award

Star Indian right-handed batter Suryakumar Yadav scored 1,164 runs in 31 T20Is at an average of 47 in 2022.

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Rohit Kumar
New Update

Indian players are flying high in the cricket governing body’s annual awards. The T20I Cricketer of the Year has been announced on Wednesday. Team India’s explosive batter Suryakumar Yadav won the award. Suryakumar, who rocked the T20 format last year, has received this great honor. He defeated England’s Sam Curran, Sikandar Raza of Zimbabwe, and Mohammad Rizwan of Pakistan in this race. Suryakumar Yadav is also the number 1 ranked batsman in the shortest format.

Suryakumar made his debut in T20Is against England in March 2021 and has not looked back since in the game's newest format. In his first innings, SKY as he is fondly known in cricketing circles hit 57 off 31 balls against the touring English side and then went from strength to strength.

Talking about the year 2022, the right-hander scored 1164 runs in 31 matches, which came at an average of around 47. During this, Suryakumar's strike rate was 187.43. Which was more than any player. He became the first Indian player to score 1000 or more runs in T20 cricket in any one calendar year.

Best year for Suryakumar Yadav in the shortest format

The year 2022 was entirely in the name of Suryakumar, during which he hit 68 sixes. This was the most number of sixes hit by any player in the T20 format in a calendar year. Suryakumar single-handedly overturned the entire game for Team India in several matches where the team was lagging behind.

In the 20-20 World Cup 2022, he scored 51 not out against the Netherlands and then hit a classy 68 against South Africa in a group match on a difficult pitch. He followed that up with a breathtaking 111 not out against New Zealand in a bilateral series and then started 2023 with a bang, hammering an unbeaten 112 against Sri Lanka.

The apex cricket body also announced the T20 Team of the Year, which included three players from India. From India, Suryakumar, Virat Kohli, and Hardik Pandya were part of this team. The Indian team is currently the number-1 one team in the world rankings. After defeating New Zealand 3-0 in the ODI series on Tuesday, January 24, India gained the top-most ranking in the shortest format.

Here's how the fans reacted:

Suryakumar Yadav