ICC Men's T20I Player Of The Year: Suryakumar Yadav Bags Title For Second Consecutive Year

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Star India batter Suryakumar Yadav was named the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men's T20I Cricketer for the second consecutive year as ICC revealed the first set of awards for the year 2023 on Wednesday (January 24).

Yadav, who maintained his position atop the ICC Men's T20I Player Rankings throughout the year, ended 2023 as the leading runscorer in the format with 733 from 18 matches at a strike rate of 155.95, and sees him win the award for the second year running.

Yadav, who brushed off competition from New Zealand's Mark Chapman, Uganda's Alpesh Ramjani and Zimbabwe's Sikandar Raza, said he was elated at winning the award again.

"I am thrilled to win the ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year award for a second time. Winning back-to-back awards for my performances in this format is something I could only dream about when I made my international debut," Yadav was quoted as saying by ICC.

"I have put my heart and soul into playing for my country and to see my efforts rewarded with such a prestigious honour is very humbling. Congratulations are due to my fellow nominees on their excellent performances in 2023.

"I'd like to thank my teammates and support staff for giving me the platform to succeed, and I want to also extend my gratitude to fans and voters worldwide for allowing me to celebrate this accolade.

"I hope that I can continue this success alongside my teammates for what will be a huge year of T20I cricket ahead, with the Men's T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies just around the corner."

Earlier this week, Yadav was also named the captain in the ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year that also included three more Indians in the form of Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

The 33-year-old had a slow start in 2023 and scored just seven runs against Sri Lanka. However, he made scores of 51 (36) and 112* (51) in the next two matches.

Suryakumar displayed a consistent performance scoring in 20s to 40s before an innings of 83 (44) against the West Indies. He concluded the series against the West Indies with a knock of 61 (45).

Towards the end of the year, the right-handed batter was given the responsibility to lead the young Indian side. Suryakumar scored half-centuries against Australia (80 off 42 balls) and South Africa (56 from 36 balls), before making a century against the Proteas off just 56 balls in their final T20I of the year in Johannesburg.

His best knock was against Sri Lanka when he scored an unbeaten knock of 112 runs off 51 balls, which included 9 sixes and 7 fours. SKY's effort came to be the second-fastest hundred for India in men's T20Is behind the skipper Rohit Sharma's 35-ball effort against the same opponent in 2017.