Surya is T20 Player of the Year; Renuka named Emerging Player

DUBAI: Swashbuckling India batter Suryakumar Yadav was on Wednesday named the ICC Men’s T20 Cricketer of the Year for his ridiculously good run in the shortest format.

Suryakumar had a stellar 2022, breaking an array of records and setting a benchmark in the format. He beat the likes of England all-rounder Sam Curran, Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan and Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza for the top honour.

Popularly known as ‘SKY’, the 32-year-old Suryakumar became just the second batter to make more than 1,000 runs in a calendar year in T20Is and ended the year as the highest run-getter, scoring 1,164 runs at a brilliant strike-rate of 187.43.

Meanwhile, India’s newest fast-bowling star Renuka Singh Thakur became the recipient of the ICC Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year award. The 26-year-old Renuka beat Australia’s Darcie Brown, Alice Capsey from England and compatriot Yastika Bhatia to take home the emerging player award.

Renuka picked up 40 wickets in 29 matches for her country in 2022 across the two white-ball formats, filling the void left by the great Jhulan Goswami.