Suryakumar Yadav, middle-order batsman for India, has taken over first place among hitters in the most recent ICC Men’s T20I Player Rankings after scoring two half-centuries in the past week at the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.
Yadav has surpassed Devon Conway of New Zealand and Mohammad Rizwan of Pakistan, who had previously held the top rank since September 4 of this year, with to his 51 not out off 25 balls against the Netherlands in Sydney and his valiant 68 off 40 against South Africa in Perth.
Yadav is only the second Indian to hold the top spot in T20 cricket after Virat Kohli, who spent 1,013 days there at various intervals between September 2014 and December 2017. Yadav is the 23rd player to hold the position.
Surya’s 863 rating points is also the second best by an Indian, the highest being Kohli’s tally of 897 in September 2014.
New Zealand middle order hard hitting batter Glenn Phillips has moved up five slots to reach a career-best 7th position after scores of 104 against Sri Lanka and 62 against England, while South Africa’s Rilee Rossouw is another one to enter the top 10 after scoring 109 against Bangladesh, moving up 17 slots to a career-best eighth position, according to ICC.