Suryakumar Yadav named ICC's T20I Cricketer of the Year

Suryakumar Yadav has been named the T20I Cricketer of the Year for 2022 by the ICC in its annual awards.

In the 2022 calendar year, Suryakumar scored 1164 runs in 31 T20I innings, with a strike rate of 187.43 and average of 46.56, with two centuries and nine half-centuries. This included a sequence of three back-to-back half-centuries in September-October, in matches against Australia and South Africa.

Overall, he has 1578 runs from 43 T20I innings, since making his debut in the format in March 2021, at a strike rate of 180.34 and average of 46.41, with three centuries and 13 half-centuries.

Suryakumar became just the second batter to make more than 1000 runs in a calendar year in 2022 and ended the year as the highest run-getter in the format, while also becoming the No. 1 T20I batter in the world when he went past Mohammad Rizwan in early November.

In 2022, Suryakumar also hit 68 sixes in T20Is, the most by an individual in a year.

The three centuries Suryakumar now has against his name puts him in joint-second place for century-makers in T20Is, behind Rohit Sharma's four, with Colin Munro and Glenn Maxwell the only other batters from Full-Member teams to score three.

The ICC recognition came after Suryakumar was one of three Indians in ICC's T20I team of the year, alongside Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya. India failed to make the title round at the 2022 T20 World Cup, losing in the semi-final to England by ten wickets, but Suryakumar had an outstanding tournament individually. He finished third on the run-scorers' chart, with 239 runs in six innings, behind Kohli (296 in six innings) and Max O'Dowd (242 runs in eight innings). Suryakumar scored his runs at a strike rate of 189.68, the best by a specialist batter, and hit three half-centuries.