Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav had a disappointing ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 campaign where he scored just 106 runs in 7 innings. However, he will be hoping to leave that behind and start afresh as the 33-year-old is set to make his captaincy debut for the Men in Blue in the upcoming five-match T20 series against Australia.
Surya is the undisputed king of the format at this point at the highest level and will be aiming to pick up from where he left off despite the responsibility of captaincy. Surya currently has 1841 runs at an average of 46, striking at 172. Surya has the third-best average and the best strike rate for the batters who have scored more runs in T20Is tells you how dominant and consistent he has been. Now, Surya has an opportunity to break and achieve a few massive records as he is nearing the 2000-run mark in the shortest format.
Surya has amassed 1841 runs in 50 innings and needs 159 more to get to 2000 runs. If Surya gets to the milestone in just two innings, he will equal Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan and become the joint-fastest batter to score 2000 T20I runs (in 52 innings). If he isn't able to do so, he has the opportunity to create an Indian record.
Virat Kohli is currently the fastest Indian batter to get to the 2000-run mark in 56 innings and if Surya is able to score those remaining 159 runs in the upcoming five-match series against Australia, he will break the batting stalwart's record. But how Surya bats as a captain will be interesting to see, even though the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma and Rinku Singh around him are capable of playing similar aggressive cricket.
India T20 squad for Australia series: Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar
