India vs New Zealand: Suryakumar Yadav in with a remote chance of breaking Virat Kohli’s T20 record

Suryakumar Yadav has a remote chance of breaking one of Virat Kohli’s major records in India’s upcoming three-match T20I series against New Zealand.

Back in 2016, the now 34-year-old Kohli scored 1614 runs from 31 matches at an average of 89.66 and a strike-rate of 147.14. It was the same year when he racked up four T20 centuries and almost 1000 runs in a single season for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The runs scored by Kohli in 2016 remains the highest by any Indian batter in T20 cricket in a calendar year. In the all-time list, the Delhi-born Kohli is placed seventh below Mohammad Rizwan (2 times), Babar Azam, Alex Hales, Chris Gayle and Shan Masood.

As far as Suryakumar is concerned, he has every chance of surpassing Kohli in the series against the Black Caps. The 32-year-old needs only 236 runs from three matches to set a new record for India in T20 cricket.

At the present point in time, Yadav has scored 1379 T20 runs from 39 matches in 2022 at an average of 43.09 and a strike-rate of 173.89 with one century and 12 half-centuries.

Yadav recently finished as among the leading run-scorers in the T20 World Cup 2022 on Australian soil. Although he scored three half-centuries at a strike-rate of around 190, the Men in Blue failed to advance to the semis.

India lost in the semis against Jos Buttler’s England by 10 wickets at the Adelaide Oval. England eventually went on to become champions after defeating Babar Azam’s Pakistan by five wickets in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).