Suryakumar Yadav Wins ICC Men's T20I Cricketer Of The Year 2023

image-lrrhpjuwSuryakumar Yadav [X.com]

Suryakumar Yadav on Wednesday (January 24) earned the just rewards for his excellence in the shortest format over the past 12 months and was honoured with the ICC Men's T20I Cricketer for the year 2023. 

The Indian aggressor was hailed by the governing body and given the highest individual prize for terrific performances in the highly variant and challenging T20I format. 

The Mumbaikar, who is currently undergoing rehab for an ankle injury, capped off his year with a tremendous century during the series against South Africa in early December. He emerged as the third-highest run-getter in T20Is globally with 733 runs from just 17 innings. 

Suryakumar Earns ICC Men's T20I Cricketer Of The Year

Among all T20I batters to have struck 500 or more runs over the previous 12 months, no one averages as high as Suryakumar's eye-catching 48.86 while retaining a tremendous strike-rate of 155.95. 

Even in a year where the focus was mainly reserved for 50-over commitments and the ICC World Cup 2023, the extravagant right-hander managed to retain his dominance in T20Is. 

Suryakumar's century against South Africa was his fourth in T20Is for India and also his fastest as he reached the three-figure mark in just 45 deliveries. 

The aggressive batter missed out on the record for the fastest Indian century in men's T20Is, a record still held by veteran opener Rohit Sharma since his majestic 35-ball hundred against Sri Lanka in Indore during the 2017 series. 

As India now shift focus towards the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, Suryakumar's belligerence and overall attacking streak attain great value and weightage for the Rohit Sharma-led side, who need their valiant middle-order batter to comeback from injury and roar in the West Indies and USA. 

India are part of Group A in the biannual ICC event alongside arch-rivals Pakistan, Ireland, Canada and the USA.