SKY Lights World Cup With Another Explosive Show, Scripts Rare Feat In T20Is

Melbourne: Suryakumar Yadav has set the T20 World Cup alive with some incredibly improvised power-hitting, and Team India are reaping the benefits.

On Sunday, in front of a vociferous crowd of 82,000 people at the gigantic MCG, Surya – fondly called SKY – was at his imperious best yet again as he smashed an unbeaten 61 off 25 balls to set up a 71-run win over Zimbabwe and helping Team India top Group 2 en route to a semifinal clash against England.

It was Surya’s third 50-plus score in the last four games, as he took his tally to 225 runs in 5 matches.

But more than those numbers, it’s the rate at which he has been scoring his runs that is quite mind-boggling. SKY’s 225 runs have come off a mere 116 balls, giving him a staggering strike rate of 193.96 – way ahead of anyone else.

In the process of his explosive knock today, Surya scripted another rare feat. He became the first Indian batsman — and second overall – to cross 1,000 runs in a calendar year.

The 31-year-old Indian has a tally of 1026 runs in 28 T20 Internationals in 2022.

The only other batsman to top 1,000 runs in a calendar year was Pakistan opener Mohammad Rizwan, who compiled 1,326 runs in 2021.

MOST T20I RUNS IN A CALENDAR YEAR

* Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan) — 1326

* Suryakumar Yadav (India) — 1026*

* Babar Azam (Pakistan) — 939

* Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan) — 924*

* Paul Stirling (Ireland) — 748.