Suryakumar Yadav became only the second batter to score 1,000 T20I runs in a calendar year en route to his unbeaten 61 against Zimbabwe and needs 301 more to overtake Mohammad Rizwan’s tally of 1,326 runs from last year.

“It’s unlikely that Rizwan’s tally will be surpassed in the future,” Wisden.com wrote, of the Pakistan opener’s extraordinary run in 2021. Twelve months later, his record is already under threat.

This year, Suryakumar has scored 1,026 runs in 28 innings, making them at an average of 44.60 and a strike rate of 186.54. With a high score of 117 to go with nine fifties, he has established himself as a complete batter, one who can not only play aggressively but also score consistently in various conditions.

The No.1 batter in the ICC’s T20I batting rankings currently has 1,026 runs to his name in 2022, the second most that any player has made in a calendar year. Rizwan, who scored 1,326 last year, is still some distance away from Suryakumar, and the feat seems unlikely to be untouched, but it can not entirely be ruled out.

The India right-hander is expected to play a minimum of four T20Is this year after he was named in the squad to face New Zealand later this month along with the semi-final of the T20 World Cup, and a maximum of five games if the team manages to reach the final. If he plays four games, he has to score 75.25 runs per innings to be able to overtake Rizwan, and a slightly more achievable but still tough 60.2 runs per game if he has five innings in hand.

Considering Suryakumar is going at an average of 44.60 this year, both scenarios would require him to better his current form considerably. He is, however, averaging 75 in the T20 World Cup so far.

Rizwan, by virtue of opening the innings, had the luxury of facing the full quota of overs more often than not, coming out to open the innings. He took 983 balls and had a strike rate of 134.89 while scoring 1,326 runs in 2021, hitting one hundred and 12 fifties. Suryakumar, on the other hand, has faced only 550 balls to score over 1,000 runs this year, which makes his feat even more stunning.

The 32-year-old scores 186.54 runs on average per 100 balls in the format in 2022, and if he is able to keep up his batting tempo, he would need to face 161.36 more balls in the remaining matches to be able to make 301 runs in the remaining games. If he plays four T20Is, he would need to play 40.34 deliveries per innings, and if India have five innings, he can get to the achievement if he faces 32.3 balls per game. The latter seems more realistic – he has faced 40 or more balls in an innings only three times in 2022 but has faced at least 30 deliveries six times.

Even if Suryakumar is unable to overtake Rizwan, 2022 will be a year that truly marked the arrival of the Mumbai Indians player. He has the highest strike rate in a calendar year amongst players who have faced a minimum of 250 balls. Among batters who have faced at least 550 balls in men’s T20Is in a year, no other player has managed a strike rate above 135 (Rizwan last year), which makes Suryakumar’s strike rate of 186.54 stand out further.

Except for him, the others in the top five on the list of most T20I runs in a calendar year are openers, and only Rizwan has more than fifty-plus scores (13). For a middle-order player to achieve the things that Suryakumar has this year is an enviable feat, and it already ensures his name will go down in history books.

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