Suryakumar Yadav eyes Mohammad Rizwan’s world record in India vs New Zealand T20I series

Fresh from a memorable campaign at the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia, premier batter Suryakumar Yadav will remain in the spotlight as Team India is set to meet New Zealand in their first away assignment after the ICC event on Friday.

Suryakumar, who made his World Cup debut in 2021, emerged as one of the most impactful players for the Rohit Sharma-led side in the 2022 edition of the showpiece event.

The premier batter is expected to spearhead the batting charge of the Hardik Pandya-led side in the absence of seasoned campaigners and some of the biggest names in world cricket. India will miss the services of captain Rohit Sharma, vice-captain KL Rahul and batting icon Virat Kohli in the three-match series against hosts New Zealand.

With Suryakumar tasked to do the heavy lifting for the visitors in the T20Is, the premier batter will have a shot at rewriting history in the shortest format. The Indian batter can shatter a world record in the three-match series between India and New Zealand.

Suryakumar is only 286 runs behind Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan, who holds the record for scoring the most T20I runs in a single year. The Pakistani wicket-keeper batter had amassed 1326 runs in 2021. India’s middle-order batter Suryakumar has smashed 1040 runs in 29 matches this year.

Suryakumar only has three matches in New Zealand to break Rizwan’s world record. The 32-year-old has notched 9 half-centuries and a century in 2022. The swashbuckling batter has achieved a noteworthy average of 43.33 this season. Earlier, the in-form batter had achieved a massive feat at the T20 World Cup. Suryakumar is the first Indian batter to score 1,000 T20I runs in a calendar year. The superstar batter has played 40 T20I matches for the 2007 world champions. Suryakumar has accumulated 1284 runs for the Asian giants in the shortest format.