T20 World Cup: Suryakumar Yadav breaks this Virat Kohli record
What's the story
India's T20I captain, Suryakumar Yadav, has broken a major record in the shortest format of the game. In his 105th T20I match, he bagged his 17th Player of the Match (PoTM) award, surpassing Virat Kohli's to become the Indian with most such honors in the format. The latter retired with 16 such awards. The achievement came during India's opening match of the T20 World Cup 2026 campaign against the USA on Saturday.
Game changer
Suryakumar's pivotal role in victory over USA
Suryakumar played a pivotal role in India's 29-run victory over the USA. He scored an unbeaten 84 off 49 balls, taking India from a precarious position of 77 for 6 to a respectable total of 161 for 9. The innings was instrumental in securing the win and earning him his record-breaking PoTM award. This was also his fourth PoTM award in T20 World Cup, second only to Kohli's eight among Indians.
Information
SKY only behind these names
While SKY now has the most POTM awards by an Indian in T20Is, he is third on the overall list. He is only behind Zimbabwe's Sikandar Raza and Malaysia's Virandeep Singh, who boast 19 and 22 honors, respectively.
Form resurgence
Three fifties in 5-match T20I series against New Zealand
Suryakumar had been going through a rough patch for months but had always maintained that he was "only out of runs and not out of form." His words rang true as he found his rhythm before the World Cup, scoring three fifties in a recent five-match T20I series against New Zealand. He now has four fifties in his last five T20I innings.
Stats
63rd fifty for SKY in T20Is
SKY's knock had 4 sixes and 10 fours. Playing his 105th T20I, the batter has raced to 3,114 runs from 99 innings at 37.97. This was his 25th half-century in T20Is (100s: 4). Yadav now owns 173 T20I sixes. As per ESPNcricinfo, Suryakumar has compiled 9,301 runs from 352 matches (326 innings) at 35.63. He smashed his 63rd fifty (100s: 6). Yadav owns 413 sixes.
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6th T20 World Cup fifty for Suryakumar
Suryakumar's 84* saw him race to a tally of 564 T20 World Cup runs from 18 matches at 35.25. He clocked his sixth fifty. He surpassed 50 fours in the tournament (56). The veteran became the 4th Indian batter with 50-plus fours. He also has 25 sixes.