Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav made new records in the third T20I between India and Sri Lanka. In 843 balls, Yadav became the fastest player to reach 1,500 runs in the shortest cricket format. He overtook Glenn Maxwell, who took 940 balls to achieve the same milestone for Australia.
Yadav’s third century also made him the third-fastest to reach the 1,500-run mark in T20Is in terms of innings. This third century makes him the first-ever player to register T20I hundreds on three different continents.
With this century, Yadav broke KL Rahul’s record of two T20I centuries and is only behind Rohit Sharma in the list of leading century-makers in T20I cricket.
Suryakumar’s century score also marks the second-fastest century by an Indian batter in T20Is, taking just 45 balls to bring up his third century in the shortest format. The fastest T20I century by an Indian is by skipper Rohit Sharma. In 2017, he nailed a 35-ball ton against Sri Lanka.
In addition to achieving these century records, Yadav is the first-ever player to reach the landmark with a strike rate of 150 or more.
Overall, in 45 matches and 43 innings, Yadav has scored 1,578 runs at an average of 46.41. He has three centuries and 13 half-centuries in the format, with the best individual score of 117 and a strike rate of 180.34.
In his T20I career, Yadav has made the list for many other records. Before the 3rd T20I, he reached the top 10 with the most player-of-the-series awards and the highest partnership for the 6th wicket.
The first time Yadav hit a T20I century was on July 10, 2022. It was in the match against England, and within seven months he now has three T20I hundreds to his name. This latest ton was his first T20I century in India.
He became the fifth batter to register three or more tons in men’s T20Is. The top batter who registered 4 tons is Rohit Sharma. Following him are Glenn Maxwell, Colin Munro, and Sabawoon Davizi with 3 tons.
While Yadav reached his 1,500-run milestone in 43 innings, some batters reached the landmark in 39 innings. These batters are Indian batters Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Australian veteran Aaron Finch, and Pakistan skipper Babar Azam.
Other than hitting his century, the Indian batter hit seven fours and as many as eleven sixes. His 11 sixes are now the most an Indian non-opening batter has smashed in a single T20I inning. Before this, the highest number of sixes that a batter hit while batting in the middle-order in a T20I game was seven.
During the match on Saturday at the SCA Stadium in Rajkot, Yadav’s knock propelled India to a victory. In the end, India won by 91 runs against Sri Lanka. With this win, India has captured the three-match T20I series by 2-1.
This is not the first time that India stood out in the T20I matches. In the first T20I match, debutant fast bowler Shivam Mavi helped lead India to victory.
Following this T20I, India has an ODI match against Sri Lanka.