High Fliers: Kohli Breaks World Cup Scoring Record; Suryakumar Climbs To No. 1

Adelaide: The Indian team and its players are flying high in Australia.

On a day when the men in blue quelled a spirited Bangladesh challenge to win by 5 runs, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav achieved personal milestones to emphasize their value in the team.

A rejuvenated Kohli, who looks like a man on a mission, won another Man-of-the-Match award for his third half-century of the tournament.

When he reached 16, en route to an unbeaten 64 at his favourite ground Adelaide Oval today, Kohli became the leading run-scorer in ICC T20 World Cup history. The former India captain went past the tally of former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene, who had scored 1016 runs in 31 innings.

At the end of Wednesday’s close contest, Kohli has an aggregate of 1,065 runs in 25 T20 World Cup innings across four editions.

He scripted a match-winning knock of 82 not out against Pakistan 10 days ago and followed it up with 62 against the Netherlands. Against South Africa, Kohli managed 12 in what was India’s only loss in the ongoing tournament.

That impressive run of scores has put Kohli on top of the 2022 T20 World Cup scorers’ chart.

Suryakumar, fondly nicknamed SKY, has been another top performer for India in the past year, including in the ongoing World Cup.

He followed up two 50-plus scores in the previous two games with a 16-ball 30 at Adelaide, which helped Surya climb to the top of the ICC T20 International world rankings.

He is only the second Indian – after Kohli – to reach the summit of ICC T20Is batting list.

Surya, with 164 runs in the 2022 World Cup at an amazing strike rate of 180, overtook Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan, who held the top position for two months.