Predicting 3 T20I records that Suryakumar Yadav can go on to break
Team India batter Suryakumar Yadav played a terrific knock in Mount Maunganui in the second T20I of the three-match series against New Zealand on Sunday, November 20. The 32-year-old struck an unbeaten 111 off only 51 balls to guide the Men in Blue to an impressive total of 191 for 6 after they were sent in to bat first by the Kiwis.
The Mumbai batter’s ton, which featured 11 fours and seven sixes and came at a strike rate of 217.65, was his second three-figure score in T20Is. He had earlier smashed 117 off 55 balls in the third T20I against England in Nottingham in July this year. It was a spectacular knock in a losing cause.
Having made his T20I debut in March last year, Suryakumar has quickly gone on to establish himself as an irreplaceable member of the Indian playing XI. In 41 T20Is, he has scored 1395 runs at an average of 45 and a stupendous strike rate of 181.64. Apart from two hundreds, he has 12 half-centuries to his credit.
While SKY has already broken a few impressive records in his T20I career so far, we predict three big ones that the in-form batter can go on to break.
#1 Fastest to 2000 runs (by innings)
Pakistan captain Babar Azam and his opening partner Mohammad Rizwan are the joint record holders for being the fastest batters to reach 2000 T20I runs. Both needed only 52 innings to touch the landmark. While Babar got there in a match against Zimbabwe in Harare in April last year, Rizwan achieved the feat earlier this year in a game against England in Karachi in September.
Suryakumar’s 1395 runs have come in 39 innings. He needs to score 605 runs in a maximum of 12 innings to break Babar and Rizwan’s record for being the fastest to 2000 runs, which is a little over 50 runs per innings. Given the blazing form that he is in, this record is very much within SKY’s limit!
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The right-handed batter already holds the record of being the fastest batter to reach 1000 T20I runs in terms of balls. He needed only 573 balls to reach the landmark, going past the previous record set by Australia's Glenn Maxwell, who took 604 deliveries to score 1000 T20I runs.
#2 Highest strike rate in an innings (minimum 25 runs)
Suryakumar already holds the record for the highest career strike rate in T20Is by a batter who has faced at least 250 deliveries - 181.64. He also has the capability to break the record for the highest strike rate in an innings by a batter in T20Is.
Among the batters who have scored a minimum of 25 runs in an innings in T20Is, West Indies’ Dwayne Smith (29 off 7) has the highest strike rate - 414.28. He achieved this feat in a 2007 T20 World Cup match against Bangladesh in Johannesburg.
Smith struck one four and four sixes in his blazing cameo before being cleaned up by Shakib Al Hasan. Smith now shares the record with Saad Bin Zafar of Canada, who also clubbed 29* off seven balls versus Bahrain in Al Amerat on November 14, 2022, in the Desert Cup T20I Series.
While Suryakumar is known for playing big knocks, there will be times when he might only have a few deliveries to face - in case the top three fire and bat for the majority of the overs. The star batter could become doubly dangerous in such a situation and will have an opportunity to break the record for the highest strike rate in a T20I innings!
#3 Fastest hundred
This will be a bit tough for sure, but not impossible given the sensational hitting zone that Suryakumar is in. The record for the fastest T20I century (35 balls) is currently shared by three batters - David Miller (South Africa), Rohit Sharma (India), and Sudesh Wickramasekara (Czech Republic).
Among current batters, SKY seems best equipped to break the record for the fastest T20I hundred. He has two T20I tons to his name so far. The first against England in Nottingham came off 48 balls and the second, on Sunday, against the Kiwis in Mount Maunganui, was registered off 49 deliveries.
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Suryakumar has all the shots in the book to go berserk from ball one. Even if he gets off to a slowish start by his standards, he has the ability to double his pace. His first fifty in the second T20I on Sunday came off 32 balls, but he needed only 17 balls to bring up his second fifty.
If he has another of his brilliant outings with the willow and enjoys some luck too, there is no reason why Suryakumar cannot break the record for the fastest century in T20Is.
Also Read: 3 areas of concern for Team India despite winning the 2nd T20I vs New Zealand