Suryakumar Yadav, the star India batter who has made a habit of breaking records, has extended his lead at the top of the ICC men's T20I batting rankings from 883 rating points to 908 in the latest update on Wednesday.
Surya blasted a majestic century in the series decider in Rajkot recently, following up his 36-ball 51 in the second T20I. The 51-ball 112 not out was laced with seven fours and nine sixes, with his sublime 360-degree hitting not sparing an inch of the stadium.
Unsurprisingly, he was named Player of the Match as India posted a massive total of 228/5 and went on to win by 91 runs.
His outstanding performances in both games place him second all-time in T20I batters bankings, trailing only England's Dawid Malan by seven rating points (915). Suryakumar was ranked fifth all-time in the previous update of the rankings, but has now surpassed Babar Azam (896), Virat Kohli (897) and Aaron Finch (900) in the last week, according to the ICC.
The right-handed batter had to wait a long time for his India debut, making his T20I debut after reaching the age of 30. But there has been no stopping him since, as he has gone on to rack up runs at an unprecedented rate. Surya has 1578 runs in 45 T20Is at a strike rate of 180.34, the highest for any batter with more than 250 T20I runs.
He finished third in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022, scoring 239 runs in six matches and striking at an eye-watering 189.68.
All three of his fifties – against South Africa, Zimbabwe, and the Netherlands – proved crucial in the circumstances, and in the case of the latter two, turned the tide in India's favour.
Suryakumar will not have to wait long to break Malan's record, as New Zealand will travel to India later this month for a white ball tour consisting of three ODIs and three T20Is.
The T20I series begins on January 27 in Ranchi, and good results against the fifth-placed Kiwis could see Surya break yet another record, which he has become accustomed to.