Suryakumar Yadav’s 32 off 22 balls against New Zealand on Wednesday night was not a headline-grabbing innings, but it felt important all the same. Coming in with questions hanging over his form, the Indian captain looked freer than he has in months. There was intent from ball one, a few clean strikes through the off side, and no sense of a batter trying to survive scrutiny. In a match dominated by Abhishek Sharma and Rinku Singh, Suryakumar’s knock slipped slightly under the radar, but it was as important from his own point of view.
The innings came after a prolonged lean patch that had begun to define his recent T20 outings. Across his previous 21 innings before this game, Suryakumar had averaged just over 13, crossing 30 only twice. He averaged just 8.11 against pacers before this. But now, he would like to build on it with four more games remaining before the T20 World Cup 2026.
Suryakumar Yadav breaks record
During the innings, Suryakumar overtook Glenn Maxwell to become the second-fastest batter to complete 9000 runs in T20 cricket by balls faced. Fastest among all Indians. He now has 9007 runs from just 5915 balls, taking his career T20 strike rate to 152.27. Only Andre Russell scored 9000 T20 runs quicker than SKY. Russell took 5321 runs, which is insane but he also bats lower down the order and it is his game to go hard from ball one.
Fascinatingly, Maxwell and Russell remain the only two players with a better career strike rate than Suryakumar’s 152 (among players with at least 9000 T20 runs). It is a massive feat by Suryakumar, who was a late bloomer in international cricket. The next best Indian on the list is Rohit Sharma with 135.21 SR.
Quickest to 9000 T20 runs (by balls faced)
| Player | Balls Taken |
|---|---|
| Andre Russell | 5321 |
| Suryakumar Yadav | 5911 |
| Glenn Maxwell | 5915 |
The next milestone is even bigger. The record for the fastest to 10,000 T20 runs by balls taken is held by Maxwell, who got there in 6505 balls. With Suryakumar already at 5915 deliveries, he has 590 balls to score the remaining 993 runs if he is to claim that record outright.
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