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India's star batter Suryakumar Yadav inched closer to yet another record after smashing his third T20I century against Sri Lanka as he extended his lead at the top of the ICC Men's T20I Batting Rankings.
His stunning returns in both games puts him second in the all-time T20I Batters Rankings, just seven rating points behind England's Dawid Malan (915). SKY was placed fifth in the all-time list during the previous update of the rankings but has now leapfrogged Babar Azam (896), Virat Kohli (897) and Aaron Finch (900) over the last week as read in a statement released by ICC. Suryakumar Yadav increased his lead at the top of the list from 883 rating points to 908. Surya scored a majestic century in the series-clinching game in Rajkot, his third in the previous six months, to follow up on his 36-ball 51 in the second T20I. The 51-ball 112* was laced with seven fours and nine sixes, not sparing an inch of the stadium with his sublime 360-degree hitting. Unsurprisingly, he was the Player of the Math as India put on a colossal total of 228/5 and went on to register a massive 91-run win. Suryakumar Yadav had to wait for a long time for the India cap, making his T20I debut after turning 30. But there has been no stopping him ever since as he has gone to rack up runs consistently at a rate not seen before. In 45 T20Is, Surya has accumulated 1578 runs at a phenomenal strike rate of 180.34, the highest for any batter with more than 250 T20I runs. In the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022, he finished as the third-highest run-getter with 239 runs in six matches while striking at an eye-watering 189.68. All three of his fifties - against South Africa, Zimbabwe and Netherlands - proved to be crucial knocks under the circumstances and in the case of the latter two, turned the tide in favour of India. Suryakumar will not have to wait for too long to gun for Malan's record as New Zealand are set to travel to India for a white ball tour consisting of three ODIs and three T20Is later this month. The T20I series will kick off on January 27 in Ranchi and good returns against the fifth-placed Kiwis could see Surya break yet another record, something he has made a habit of. (ANI)
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