How could Suryakumar Yadav miss out on Virat Kohli's T20I record despite staggering form?

Indian batsman Suryakumar Yadav has been under spotlight since scoring a century in the 2nd T20I against New Zealand on Sunday. Yadav smashed an unbeaten 111 off just 51 balls to help India post a mammoth total on the board, which eventually saw the Men in Blue defeat the Kiwis by a huge margin of 65 runs. This was Yadav's second T20I hundred, making him only the third Indian player after Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul to score more than one century in the shortest format for India. 

SKY may miss out on Kohli's record, but why?

Yadav is currently the leading T20I run-scorer in the calendar year 2022. In 30 T20 matches for India, Yadav has scored 1151 runs at an average of 47.95 and with a strike rate of 188.37, including two centuries and nine half-centuries. Despite his heroics with the bat, the 32-year-old is likely to miss out on former India captain Virat Kohli's record for most runs in a calendar year. In 2016, Kohli had scored a staggering 1614 runs in 31 T20 matches, including the IPL. Kohli scored a record 973 runs in the IPL and 641 runs in T20 Internationals. 

Yadav, on the other hand, has scored 1454 runs in 38 T20 matches in 2022, including the IPL. Yadav is still 160 runs away from breaking Kohli's record. With one more T20I game left for Yadav to play in 2022, it appears highly unlikely that he would be able to go past Kohli in the record books. India will play their final T20I game of the year against New Zealand on Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, Yadav will also miss out on another record set by Pakistan opener Mohammad Rizwan. The Mumbai-born cricketer is currently the leading T20I run-scorer in the calendar year 2022 but he is still 175 runs away from breaking Rizwan's record of scoring the most runs in a calendar year in T20Is. Rizwan had scored 1326 T20I runs in 29 matches in 2021. 

Yadav has displayed great form with the bat in 2022. He was the second-highest run-scorer for India at T20 World Cup 2022. The right-handed batter has played 41 T20I matches for India since making his debut in 2021. He has scored 1395 runs at an average of 45.00 and with a strike rate of 181.64, including two centuries and 12 fifties. 

Image: BCCI