SKY again in line for top ICC T20 award

Suryakumar Yadav was named as one of the four nominees for the ICC Men's T20 Cricketer of the Year 2023, the International Cricket Council said on Wednesday.

The 33-year-old Indian, who won the accolade in 2022, dominated 2023 in the shortest format with 733 runs from 17 innings at an average of 48.86 and strike rate of 155.95.

Suryakumar started 2023 with a failure against Sri Lanka before he bounced back with scores of 51 (36 balls) and 112 not out (51 balls) in the next two matches to continue his prolific run in T20 cricket.

With a range of his inside-out drives and clever play behind the wicket, Suryakumar's knock of 112 off 51 balls included nine sixes and seven fours, equating to almost a boundary every three deliveries.

His first boundary came off just the fourth ball of his innings, and it took just 45 balls to reach three figures. The effort was the second-fastest hundred for India in men's T20s behind Rohit Sharma's 35-ball effort against the same opponent in 2017, and India were clear 91-run winners.

Consistent scoring in 20s to 40s continued, before an innings of 83 (44 balls) against the West Indies in Providence proved his class. He ended the series against the West Indies with a knock of 61 (45 balls) in Florida.

Suryakumar flourished despite the burden of captaincy, taking the reins of a young Indian side towards the end of the year in South Africa.

He made half-centuries against Australia (80 off 42 balls) and South Africa (56 from 36 balls), before posting an even 100 against the Proteas off just 56 balls in their final T20 of the year in Johannesburg.

The other three nominees are Sikandar Raza of Zimbabwe (11 innings, 515 runs at 51.50, strike rate 150.14; 17 wickets at 14.88, economy 6.57), Alpesh Ramjani of Uganda (55 wickets at 8.98, economy 4.77) and Mark Chapman of New Zealand (17 innings, 556 runs at 50.54, strike rate 145.54).