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Team India got off to a flying start as it rode on Suryakumar Yadav's scorching fifty and KL Rahul's sedate half-century to romp South Africa by eight wickets in the first T20I of the three-match series on Wednesday (September 28).
Arshdeep Singh (3/32) and Deepak Chahar (2/24) hit the South Africans hard with some magical swing bowling as the visitors' innings was summed up to just 106/8 which was easily overhauled by the Men in Blue with 20 ball to spare where Suryakumar yet again unleashed the beast in him with stunning 33-ball 50 while Rahul scored 56-ball 51.
Meanwhile, the first T20I between India and South Africa saw flurry of records tumble at the Greenfield Stadium in Trivandrum.
Surya's scorches record books
Suryakumar Yadav continued his incredible run in T20Is in 2022, completing more than 700 runs in the format in the year. His tally of runs in T20Is in 2022 is a record for an Indian batter with Suryakumar going past Shikhar Dhawan's 689 runs in 2018 in the format.
What makes his record even more outrageous is the fact that Yadav has scored these runs at a strike rate of more than 180 and an average more than 40.
Player Runs Batting average Strike-rate Year
Suryakumar Yadav 732 40.66 180.29 2022
Shikhar Dhawan 689 40.52 147.22 2018
Virat Kohli 641 106.83 140.26 2016
Rohit Sharma 590 36.87 147.5 2018
Rohit Sharma 497 29.23 131.48 2016
Rohit Sharma 497 26.15 146.17 2022
With the two sixes early in the innings, Yadav also went past Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan to record the most sixes in any calendar year in T20Is. Rizwan held the record for his 42 sixes in 2021 with Martin Guptill also smashing 41 sixes in 2021.
Most sixes in a year in T20I cricket
45 – Suryakumar Yadav (2022)*
42 – Mohammad Rizwan (2021)
41 – Martin Guptill (2021)
37 – Evin Lewis (2021)
Surya second best
Yadav is up to second position in the latest MRF Tyres ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings with 801 rating points after his half-century in the third and final T20I against Australia in Hyderabad.
Team India's winning spree
Not just this, India broke Pakistan’s record for the most T20I wins in a calendar year when it beat Australia by six wickets to seal the three-match series 2-1 in Hyderabad on Sunday.
The win marked India’s 21st T20I win in 2022 from 28 matches. It put Rohit Sharma’s side ahead of Pakistan’s record of 20 wins in 2021.
Rohit Sharma bests Dhoni
However, while India captain Rohit Sharma was dismissed for a duck, he still managed to surpass former captain MS Dhoni to script a new record. The 35-year-old overtook Dhoni’s record of most T20I matches won in a calendar year.
The win over South Africa on Wednesday took Rohit’s tally to 16 T20I wins in 2022, surpassing MS Dhoni’s record of 15 wins, which he set in 2016. However, with still three months to go till the end of 2022 and the T20 World Cup in October, chances are Rohit will accumulate more wins to create a new record.
Wednesday’s victory also helped Rohit to become the most successful T20I captain for India by winning percentages. Dhoni captained 72 T20I matches between 2007-2016, winning 41, losing 28, and drawing one while the rest of the two matches were abandoned. He has a winning percentage of 59.28%, compared to Rohit’s 79.06%.
