India's talismanic batter SKY reaches new career-high in ICC rankings

DUBAI: The accolades continue to roll in for Suryakumar Yadav as the India dynamo and world's best T20I batter reached a new career-high rating on the updated ICC Men's T20I Batting Rankings.

Suryakumar reached the rating of 910 points after he stroked quickfire innings of 47 during the first match of India's ongoing series against New Zealand in Ranchi as the exciting right-hander maintained his healthy lead at the top of the T20I rankings for batters.

While Suryakumar played a more composed knock of 26* in the second match of the series, the 32-year-old dropped back to a total of 908 rating points as a result.

He will have an opportunity to improve on his record in the third and deciding match of the series in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. It also means Suryakumar remains within striking distance of England batter Dawid Malan in the race to hold the highest rating of all time for Men's T20I batters.

Malan achieved a rating of 915 points in Cape Town back in 2020, but Suryakumar now holds the second-highest rating of all time for T20I batters following his recent heroics with the willow.

He claimed the top ranking for current batters while scoring a total of 239 runs from six matches at last year's ICC Men's T20 World Cup and only last month was deservedly named the ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year.