ICC include Suryakumar Yadav in list of 5 cricketers tipped to shine during upcoming T20 World Cup

The 2022 edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup is scheduled to start in just a little more than two weeks' time in Australia. This year it will be the first time that the shortest format’s elite tournament will take place in Australia. They were supposed to host the tournament in 2020 but it was postponed to 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With only a few days left until the start of the T20 World Cup, all 16 participating teams have announced their squads, and on Sunday (October 2), the ICC took note of all and picked five cricketers who are tipped to shine during the upcoming T20 World Cup.

The list includes four batters and one all-rounder in the form of Wanindu Hasaranga, who finished as the leading wicket taker in last year’s edition of the tournament and also won the Player of the Tournament award in last month’s Asia Cup T20 tournament, which was played in the United Arab Emirates.

Indian batter Suryakumar Yadav is among the four batters that has been shortlisted by the ICC to shine in the T20 World Cup. The 32-year-old Indian middle-order batter is the leading run scorer in T20I matches this year. He has scored 732 runs in 21 T20Is this year at an average of 40.66 and a strike rate of 180.29. He was on fire for India in the third T20I against Australia last month, where he scored 69 runs off just 36 balls. During his stay at the crease, he scored five fours and as many sixes.

He continued his ace form in the ongoing South Africa series as well, and played a match-winning 50 not out of just 33 balls in the 1st T20I on September 28 in Thiruvananthapuram. Surya is currently ranked as the world’s number two T20I batter and also holds the record for scoring the highest number of sixes in T20Is in a calendar year.

Apart from Suryakumar, other players that feature in the list include Australian opening batter David Warner, England’s white-ball skipper Jos Buttler and Pakistan’s wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan.

Warner won the Player of the Tournament award in the T20 World Cup last year, and this time, with the tournament taking place in Australia, he will again be expected to do wonders for the reigning T20 World Cup winners. As for Buttler, he has been out of action for quite some time now because of an injury he suffered during The Hundred, but he has also been in rich form this year. He had a record-breaking IPL season, where he scored a total of 863 runs for Rajasthan Royals in 16 matches with the help of four centuries and as many fifties.

Rizwan, on the other hand, is the world’s number one T20I batter and has scored 619 runs in 12 T20Is this year at an average of 61.90. He has scored seven fifties in the last 10 T20Is played for Pakistan.