The Indian middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav was on fire once again during the first T20I of India’s three-match series against South Africa. After scoring his eighth T20I fifty against Australia on Sunday (September 25) in Hyderabad, the right-handed batter continued where he left off. With 50 runs from 33 deliveries, he helped India bounce back from Rohit Sharma’s (0) and Virat Kohli’s (3) early departures.
On the second ball of Anrich Nortje’s 1st over, the Mumbaikar came to the crease to face his second ball. Nortje’s first ball showed the class of the Mumbaikar. To relieve some of the pressure which the opposition bowlers tried to create, he hammered the express fast bowler for two back-to-back sixes on the second and third balls he faced. The 17 runs India scored in the first six overs of the powerplay were the lowest ever by an Indian team in a T20I. After that, Surya took over and he and KL Rahul (51 not out off 56 balls) added 93 runs in 10.3 overs to help India reach the target in 16.4 overs for the loss of two wickets to take a 1-0 lead.
Surya broke Mohammad Rizwan’s record for most sixes in a calendar year with his first six of the night. Previously, Rizwan had smashed 42 sixes in 2021, but now Surya has smashed 45 in 2022.
The Indian batsman played 21 matches this year and scored 732 runs, which is also a record for most runs by an Indian batter in a calendar year. In doing so, he broke Shikhar Dhawan’s record as the opening batsman. In 2018, left-handed batters scored 689 runs.