Suryakumar Yadav Named ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year for Second Time in a Row

The 2023 winner of the ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year award is India's Suryakumar Yadav. For the second consecutive year, the Indian batter has taken home the trophy.

In 2023, Suryakumar struck for 155.95 and scored 733 runs in 17 innings at an average of 48.86. The destructive middle-order batter smashed four half-centuries and two hundreds in 2023.

After India all-rounder Hardik Pandya was injured, Suryakumar was given the captaincy, and he adapted to the position like a duck to water.

In India's final T20 international of the year in Johannesburg, he scored a century off just 56 deliveries against the Proteas after hitting half-centuries against Australia (80 off 42 balls) and South Africa (56 from 36 balls).

The year also saw the Mumbai Indians batter to reach the three-figure mark against Sri Lanka off of just 45 deliveries, smashing India's second-fastest century in T20 Internationals. Only Rohit Sharma's a 35-ball effort against the same opponent in 2017 was better than his knock.

The Mumbai-born batsman tied Australia's Glenn Maxwell and India's Rohit for the most tonnes in the game's shortest format in 2023 when he scored his fourth T20 International century. But after Rohit struck a fantastic century in the last Twenty20 international of their three-match series against Afghanistan, Suryakumar's achievement was quickly surpassed.

In 60 T20I matches, Suryakumar has amassed 2,141 runs at an average of 45.55 and a strike percentage of 171.55.

Surya named as captain in 'Team of the Year' -

It's interesting to note that on Tuesday, January 23, Suryakumar was also chosen captain of the ICC T20I Team of the Year.

Three more Indians, in addition to Suryakumar, were included in the T20I Team of the Year. The team also featured pacer Arshdeep Singh, spinner Ravi Bishnoi, and hard-hitting opener Yashasvi Jaiswal.

ICC T20I Team of the Year for 2023

Suryakumar Yadav (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Phil Salt, Nicholas Pooran, Mark Chapman, Sikandar Raza, Alpesh Ramjani, Mark Adair, Ravi Bishnoi, Richard Ngarava, Arshdeep Singh