India vs South Africa: Suryakumar Yadav Set To Equal Virat Kohli’s Long-Standing Record In 1st T20I

India’s captain for the T20I series against South Africa, Suryakumar Yadav is on the cusp of a new record. Ranked the No. 1 T20I batter in the world, Surya is on the cusp of breaking a record presently held by the legendary Virat Kohli. Surya is only 15 runs away from becoming the first Indian batter to reach 2000 runs in T20 international cricket. The record is presently held by Kohli who had reached the milestone in 56 matches.

Suryakumar, who has reached 1985 runs in 55 innings, will equal Kohli’s record if he scores 15 or more runs in the first T20I against South Africa in Durban.

The overall record is jointly held by Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan who both reached the 2000-run mark in T20Is in 52 innings each.

In comparison to Babar, Rizwan, and even Kohli, what’s interesting to note is that Suryakumar’s batting position is the lowest. In fact, 59% of his T20I runs (1171/1985) have come in middle overs at SR of 165. He is the only batter to have SR of 160+ having scored a minimum of 500 runs in this phase.

Surya also loves to bat against the Proteas and has 3 fifties in 4 innings at SR of 185. Against South African pacers, Surya has strike rate of 203 which is second best against any pace attack he has faced a minimum of 3 innings.

Ahead of the first T20I, Suryakumar emphasised his desire for the team to maintain the “fearless” approach that earned them a 4-1 victory against Australia in the recently-concluded T20I series.

“The players put their hands up against Australia and came up with fearless cricket, and we need to play the same against South Africa. I just told them to do exactly what they do in franchise cricket,” he said.