India vs West Indies
Suryakumar Yadav closing in on the No 1 ranked T20I batter Babar Azam in the latest rankings update
SKY has a good chance of overtaking Babar Azam.
Suryakumar Yadav is in the form of his life as the batter once again shined with the bat in the third T20I against West Indies on Tuesday. The batter walked out to open the innings with captain Rohit Sharma and straight away took the attack on the West Indian bowlers scoring two boundaries in the very first over of the innings.
The 31-year-old was at his flamboyant best as he put on marvellous strokeplay on display leaving the fans awestruck. He looked like scoring the second T20I hundred of his career but was finally dismissed 24 runs short of the milestone. He scored 76 off 44 balls with eight fours and four sixes.
Courtesy of his blistering innings, Yadav has taken a giant leap in the T20I batter’s rankings as he has now taken the second spot with 816 ratings. He’s just two points behind the number one batter Babar Azam who has 818 ratings to his name. With two more matches remaining in the ongoing series, Yadav has a great chance to overtake the Pakistan captain and become the number one batter in the T20 internationals.
Babar has taken the top spot since 3rd November 2021 and has also broken the record for being the top-ranked batter for the longest time surpassing Virat Kohli’s record of 1013 days at the top. Yadav has a shot at finally ending Babar’s reign at the top.
The stylish Indian batter had been making big statements with his consistent performances in the Indian T20 league for the past four seasons. He was finally rewarded for his performance as he got selected for the Indian team.
He made his entry in the international arena in grand fashion as he hooked a speedy bouncer from Jofra Archer for a monstrous six-over fine leg. From there on, there was no looking back for SKY as he cemented his place in the Indian team with his stupendous performances.
He became the fifth Indian batter to score a T20I hundred recently as he scored a magnificent 117 off 55 balls in the third T20I against England. In 2022, he has scored 404 runs in 11 innings at an average of 40 with a strike rate of 190. It will be interesting to see if Yadav continues his good form and takes over Babar as the no-one T20I batter.
