Numero Uno: Suryakumar Yadav retains No.1 spot in T20I batting rankings

SKY took the showpiece event Down Under by storm with his incredible batting skills. While other Indian batters were slow off the blocks, Yadav was batting in top gear from ball one. On a tough pitch in Perth where other batters were falling like a pack of cards, Suryakumar was thrashing bowlers left, right and centre. His 48-ball 60 was the only factor that helped India reach 133/9. And in the India-Zimbabwe encounter, SKY (25-ball 61*) left the bowlers scratching their heads with his audacious strokeplay, where he was hitting wide full-tosses outside off for sixes over short fine-leg. The man seemed like batting on another planet throughout the tournament!

 

Yadav has become India’s true Mr 360 degrees with a repertoire of shots all around the ground. The stylish batter, in his own words, doesn’t look to play power shots rather he plays the field. That’s why it’s difficult to contain him as a bowler. Bowlers are left with no answers when SKY hits top gear because he has a shot for every ball. The 32-year-old has taken batting to another level and transformed T20 batsmanship. This year, he has also become the first Indian to score 1000 T20I runs in a calendar year.

England's Alex Hales, who smashed an unbeaten 86 from 47 deliveries in the semifinal against India, made a big jump, climbing 22 places up to No. 12 in the rankings. Hales finished as England's second-highest run-scorer in the T20 World Cup, with 212 runs at an average of 42.40.

Hales has been in superb form ever since his comeback to the England side earlier this year. He has amassed 430 T20I runs in 2022, at an excellent average of 30.71 and an equally good strike-rate of 145.27.

Other batters who made progress in the top 10 are Babar Azam and Rilee Rossouw.

The Pakistan skipper scored a match-winning fifty in the semifinal against New Zealand, gaining one spot to climb up to No. 3.

South Africa's Rossouw also jumped up to seventh after New Zealand's Glenn Phillips dropped to the eighth spot. Rossouw had scored a magnificent century against Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup.

Other batters in the top five other than Suryakumar and Babar are Mohammad Rizwan, Devon Conway and Aiden Markram.

Both Rizwan and Markram have managed to hold on to their second and fifth positions respectively, whereas Conway dropped down to fourth after losing his third spot to Babar.

In the bowling charts, Adil Rashid has been the biggest gainer after his extraordinary performances in the semifinal against India and the final against Pakistan. Rashid registered figures of 1/20 and 2/22 in the two matches respectively, gaining five spots to move up to No. 3.

His compatriot Sam Curran also gained two spots to move to No. 5, after a Player of the Match performance of 3/12 in the final against Pakistan. Wanindu Hasaranga continues to remain the top-ranked bowler, followed by Rashid Khan.

In the all-rounders' rankings, Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Nabi and Hardik Pandya continue to occupy the top three spots respectively.