Suryakumar Yadav, after winning another man of the match award yesterday against New Zealand in Jaipur, has now equalled Yuvraj Singh in terms of the most number of man of the match awards won by a player in his debut year in T20 international cricket.
Yuvraj Singh had made his debut in T20Is in 2007 and he won two man of the match awards playing for India that year, both in T20 World Cup, against England and Australia respectively.
Yuvraj hit six back to back sixes off Stuart Broad in the game against England and scored the fastest half century ever in the history of T20 cricket in 12 balls, while in the game against Australia later in the tournament, the left hander slammed 70 off 30 balls, winning man of the match award in both games.
Suryakumar Yadav, incidentally, also won his first man of the match award against England this year and that too in his very first game in Ahmedabad where he scored a half century, starting his first international innings hitting Jofra Archer for a six off very first ball.
Suryakumar Yadav again played a match winning knock batting at no. 3 for India against New Zealand in Jaipur
The second man of the match award for Suryakumar Yadav also came for a match winning half century as he scored 62 off 40 balls against New Zealand yesterday and regsitered the highest score of his very brief international career so far.
No other Indian player, apart from Yuvraj and Suryakumar Yadav, has won more than 2 man of the match awards in his debut year in T20I cricket. Suryakumar now has the chance to go past Yuvraj and create a new record as he still has to play quite a few T20 games this year and the kind of form he is in, it’s very much expected of him to make a match winning impact for India again in the next few games.
Most Player of the Match Awards by Indian men in T20I debut year:-
2* – Suryakumar Yadav in 2021
2 – Yuvraj Singh in 2007#INDvNZ— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) November 17, 2021
Suryakumar currently has an average of 49 and a strike rate of 160 in T20 international cricket which is extraordinary.
