Suryakumar Yadav named ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year 2022

Suryakumar Yadav has been named the ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year 2022 after standout performances throughout the year. He scored 1164 runs in 31 T20Is at an average of 46.56 to beat other nominees including Mohammad Rizwan, Sikandar Raza, and Sam Curran in the race to the prestigious award.

The Indian batter dominated the year with two hundreds and nine fifties at an amazing strike rate of 187.43. Suryakumar was the only cricketer to score 1000-plus runs in T20Is last year and only second to reach the benchmark in a calendar year.

The 32-year-old big-hitter smashed a record 68 sixes in T20Is in 2022, 29 more than the second-highest by the West Indies star Rovman Powell. He also topped the chart for the most fours with 106 boundaries and was the only cricketer to score 100-plus fours in T20Is in 2022. 

Suryakumar made his T20I debut in March 2021, but his sharp rise to the no.1 spot in the ICC T20I batter's chart came after the conclusion of the Indian Premier League 2022. His first T20I century came against England in June 2022 where he smashed 117 off 55 during India's unsuccessful chase in Nottingham and that innings turned Surykumar's fortune as he has not looked back since then.

He added another century during India's tour of New Zealand in November and was the third highest leading run-scorer in the T20 World Cup 2022 with 239 runs at a strike rate of 189.68 with the help of three half-centuries.

His heroics in T20Is have also earned him a spot in India's ODI team and he has now been named in the red-ball team for the first two Tests against Australia for the upcoming Test series. However, he is struggling to make a similar impact in ODIs but he continued his red-hot form in India's first T20I series in 2023 against Sri Lanka. He scored a quick 51 in the second game in Pune and then smashed 112* off 51 in the next match in Rajkot to get his third T20I hundred.