Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Feb 1: Suryakumar Yadav’s accolades keep coming in as the India powerhouse and top-ranked T20I batsman in the world attained a new career-high ranking on the most recent ICC Men’s T20I Batting Rankings.
In the opening game of India’s current series against New Zealand in Ranchi, Suryakumar scored a quickfire innings of 47 runs to attain the rating of 910 points, maintaining his commanding lead atop the T20I batters’ rankings.
Suryakumar (32), fell back to a total of 908 rating points despite playing a more calm knock of 26 not out in the second game of the series.
In the third and final game of the series on Wednesday in Ahmedabad, he will have the chance to improve on his record. It also means that Suryakumar is still vying with England’s Dawid Malan for the title of batter with the highest rating in Men’s T20I history.
Malan scored 915 points in Cape Town in 2020, but Suryakumar has recently excelled with the willow and currently boasts the second-highest rating ever for T20I batters.
In six games at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup last year, he scored a total of 239 runs, earning him the top spot among active batters. Just last month, he was duly crowned the ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year.
A number of New Zealand players have been the largest movers on the new charts for both the batters’ and bowlers’ rankings, even if Suryakumar’s potential ascent dominated much of the discussion surrounding the most recent set of T20I rankings.
Following his undefeated half-century in the opening match against India, Daryl Mitchell, a teammate, moves up nine slots to 29th overall, while New Zealand’s opener Finn Allan moves up eight spaces to 19th on the list of hitters.
However, fellow Kiwi Mitchell Santner, who has excelled with both bat and ball in India, may have made the most notable switch.
