ICC announces nominees for men's T20I Cricketer of the Year, top-ranked batter Suryakumar Yadav included on the elite list

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has revealed the nominees for the men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year 2022 and the elite list features two Asia batters and one of them happens to be an Indian. The Indian batter in contention is the modern-day white-ball specialist Suryakumar Yadav who had a dream year in T20Is in 2022.

Apart from Suryakumar Yadav, the list also features the likes of Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan, England all-rounder Sam Curran and Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza respectively. Notably, there is no place for Pakistan skipper Babar Azam this time around.

Who are the consistent performers that earned a place in ICC T20I Cricketer of the Year category?

Suryakumar Yadav enjoyed a dream run this year in the shortest format as he scored two overseas centuries. While the first one (117) came against England in July, the second one (111) came in New Zealand last month. Yadav also finished as the third highest run-getter of the T20 World Cup 2022 scoring 239 runs at a strike rate of 189.68 including three half-centuries.

Yadav will finish 2022 as the highest run-getter in the shortest format with 1164 runs from 31 matches at an outstanding strike rate of 187.43.

Sikandar Raza made a tremendous impact with both bat and ball in the shortest format this year finishing with 735 runs at an excellent strike rate of over 150 from 24 matches and registered 25 scalps to his name at an economy of 6.13.

Raza’s best performance came during Zimbabwe’s one-run victory over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2022 fixture where he finished with figures of 3/25 with the ball in hand.

England all-rounder Sam Curran also had an outstanding 2022 to savour as he finished with 67 runs and 25 wickets from 19 matches. Curran was adjudged the Player of the Tournament in England’s victorious ICC T20 World Cup 2022 campaign as he bagged 13 wickets.

His performances this year have also earned him a lucrative IPL contract from the Punjab Kings worth INR 18.5 crore for the 2023 season.

Mohammad Rizwan might not have had the best of T20 World Cup, but he was impressive with the bat in the shortest format throughout the year. The Pakistan stumper finished as the top run-getter of Asia Cup 2022 having amassed 281 runs from six innings. Rizwan has amassed 996 runs in 25 games including nine catches and three stumpings to his name.