ESPNcricinfo Awards 2023 Men's T20I batting winner: A Suryakumar sizzler

Is it even a trademark Suryakumar innings if he hasn't fallen over on his back while scooping the ball behind the stumps for a boundary? If the ball hasn't landed behind square on the leg side - sometimes even travelling horizontally in that direction? He calls it the Supla shot, an across-the-line swipe that he could very well patent.

That, along with the bottom-handed whip and the inside-out loft over cover, were all on display in the deciding T20I against Sri Lanka in Rajkot, in which Suryakumar launched seven fours and nine sixes in his 51-ball knock. The other six Indians who came out to bat combined to hit only five sixes, while all 11 Sri Lanka batters managed six between them.

What stood out in particular was Suryakumar's strength in hitting towards fine leg. Six deliveries off his bat went in that region - four of those were sixes and the other two were fours.

It was his second T20I hundred in five innings, coming on the back of his topping the T20I run charts in 2022. Little surprise then that this is his second successive award in this category.

Suryakumar started the 11th over with two dots, the only time that happened in this innings. For the third ball, he made room and advanced on Chamika Karunaratne, who responded by going short and wide outside off. The line of the ball was another two sets of stumps away, but Suryakumar improvised in a flash to upper-cut the ball for four in front of square. That shot opened the floodgates, and he cracked 87 off his last 34 deliveries.

219.6 Suryakumar's strike rate in the innings. He is the only batter to have batted at a strike rate of 210 or more three times while having faced at least 50 deliveries in a T20I innings.

9 Number of sixes hit by Suryakumar in the innings - the second-most by an Indian in a T20I, behind Rohit Sharma's ten - also against Sri Lanka - in 2017.

"It's lovely to have someone here with me, who, I am sure as a young kid growing up, didn't watch me bat."
- Rahul Dravid, India coach

"You don't have to tell him anything. He is always clear about his plans, and that's the reason he is successful in this format. He doesn't doubt his ability."
- Hardik Pandya, India's T20I captain for the series

Glenn Maxwell
104 not out vs India, third T20I, Guwahati
Australia needed 157 at over ten runs per over when Maxwell arrived at the crease towards the conclusion of the powerplay. By the end of the seventh over, they had lost another wicket and needed 11.53 runs per over. Maxwell took charge, starting by clubbing Prasidh Krishna for two fours and two sixes. It came down to Australia needing 16 from the final four balls. Maxwell took on Prasidh again, smashing him for a six and three fours in a row. The next highest score by an Australian that evening was 35.