Suryakumar Yadav holds the record of most T20I runs for India in a calendar year

Flamboyant batter Suryakumar Yadav now holds the record for most T20I runs for India in a calendar year. 

Mumbai-born Suryakumar Yadav has already scored 1026 runs in 28 innings in 2022 at an impressive strike rate of 186.54 while also maintaining an average of 44.60. The right-handed batter has recorded 10 fifty-plus scores in the calendar year of 2022, including a blitzkrieg hundred (117 off 55 balls) against hosts England at Trent Bridge in July.

Since making his T20 international debut against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in March 2021, Suryakumar Yadav has aggregated 1270 runs in 39 T20Is at an average of 42.33 and a strike rate of 179.63. He has hit one century and 12 fifties in his T20I career so far.

Meanwhile, Suryakumar surpassed the previous record held by India’s star opening batter Shikhar Dhawan during the first T20I against South Africa at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala in 2022. Batting at number four, Yadav smashed an unbeaten 50 off 33 balls to guide India to a convincing victory.

Following his scintillating half-century, Suryakumar also moved to the second spot on the list for most runs in a calendar year in T20 Internationals. Pakistan wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan currently holds the record, having amassed 1,326 runs in 29 matches in 2021.

Shikhar Dhawan earlier owned the record for most T20I runs for India in a calendar year, having accumulated 689 runs in 17 innings in 2018 at an average of 40.52 and a strike rate of 147.22. Shikhar Dhawan also registered six fifty-plus scores in the calendar year of 2018.

Former India cricket team captain Virat Kohli features second and fourth on the list. Batting at number three, Kohli scored 641 runs in just 13 innings in 2016 at a staggering average of 106.83 and a strike rate of 140.26. 

The Indian talisman was at the peak of his batting prowess in 2016, registering seven fifty-plus scores in that calendar year, which is a record till date.

Kohli has also amassed 731 runs in 19 innings in 2022 at an average of 56.23 and a strike rate of 139.23. He has registered eight fifty-plus scores in 2022.

Current India skipper Rohit Sharma is fifth and sixth on the list, having achieved the 500-run milestone on two occasions, in 2018 and 2022.

Rohit Sharma scored 590 runs in 18 innings in 2018 at a strike rate of 147.50 while also maintaining a decent average of 36.87. He recorded five fifty-plus scores in that year.

In 2022, Rohit Sharma has also accumulated 629 runs in 28 innings at a strike rate of 136.73 and an average of 24.19.

Most T20I runs for India in a calendar year

(*) ongoing records.

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Featured photo: NOAH SEELAM / AFP