Suryakumar Yadav Breaks Shikhar Dhawan's Record For Most T20I Runs For India In A Calendar Year

Suryakumar Yadav during his highly impressive knock in the first T20I between India and South Africa in Trivandrum on September 28, 2022, went past Shikhar Dhawan’s record for the most T20I runs by an Indian batter in one calendar year.

Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to field first. He also shared that Jasprit Bumrah was missing in the playing XI due to a back injury, while Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been rested. Instead of them, Deepak Chahar, Rishabh Pant, and R Ashwin came into the side.

South Africa, on the other hand, came to India with their full-strength T20 World Cup 2022 squad.

However, the Indian bowling duo of Deepak Chahar (2/24) and Arshdeep Singh (3/32) reduced them to 9/5 in the first three overs. However, with Keshav Maharaj scoring 41 and 25 from Aiden Markram and 24 from Kagiso Rabada, the Proteas finished on 106/8 in 20 overs.

Suryakumar Yadav Breaks Shikhar Dhawan’s Record Of Most T20I Runs By An Indian In One Calendar Year Of 689 Runs

India lost Rohit Sharma (0) and Virat Kohli (3) early as South African bowlers used the pace in the pitch and the bounce to their advantage, but then KL Rahul and red-hot Suryakumar Yadav put on a testing unbeaten stand of 93 runs for the third wicket as India won by 8 wickets on 16.4 overs.

KL Rahul finished on an unbeaten 51 in 56 balls with 2 fours and 4 sixes, while Suryakumar, who had started by hitting Anrich Nortje for two sixes in the first four balls he faced, made 50* in 33 balls with 3 sixes and 5 fours to his name.

In due course, he broke Shikhar Dhawan’s record of 689 T20I runs in one calendar year, which came in 2018. Dhawan had played 17 innings, hit 6 fifties with the highest score of 92 at a strike rate of 147.22, and averaged 40.52 with 70 fours and 25 sixes.

Notably, Surya needed eight more runs to break Dhawan’s T20I record before the series against South Africa. The 32-year-old batter achieved the milestone with a six off South Africa pacer Anrich Nortje during an Indian innings on Wednesday.

He now has 732 runs in 21 innings in 2022 with 1 century and 5 fifties to his name at an average of 40.66 and strike rate of 180.29 with 45 sixes and 63 fours to his name.

Here are the top five Indian run-getter in one calendar year in T20Is:

1. Suryakumar Yadav- 732* runs in 2022 (ongoing)
2. Shikhar Dhawan- 689 runs in 2018
3. Virat Kohli- 649 runs in 2016
4. Rohit Sharma- 590 runs in 2018
5. Rohit Sharma- 497 runs in 2016 and 2022* (ongoing)

Also Read: IND vs SA: Twitter Brutally Trolls KL Rahul For His Slow Batting In 1st T20I Against South Africa