India batter Suryakumar Yadav on Wednesday was named as the men's T20I Player of the Year 2023 by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
The 33-year-old has become the first male cricketer to win this award twice, having bagged the honour last year as well for 2022.
The top-ranked batter in T20Is amassed 733 runs from 18 matches at a staggering average of 48.86 with two hundreds and five fifties to his name. Surya has four centuries in the format which is the joint-second highest in T20Is.
He was also named captain of the T20I Team of the Year 2023 by the ICC earlier this month.
ICC lauds SKY's achievements in T20I cricket
"The backbone of India's middle order got starts throughout the year, delivering several match-winning contributions. This is the second consecutive year that the India batter has taken this award home," the ICC stated.
Yadav's first innings of just seven to start the year against Sri Lanka was a mere speed bump in another prolific year.
"Consistent scoring in 20s to 40s continued, before an innings of 83 (44) against the West Indies in Providence proved his class. He ended the series against the West Indies with a knock of 61 (45) in Florida.
"Yadav flourished despite the burden of captaincy, taking the reins of a young side towards the end of the year," the world body stated.
Sky's top knocks of 2023
Yadav made half-centuries against Australia (80 off 42 balls) and South Africa (56 from 36 balls), before posting a 100 against the Proteas off just 56 balls in their final T20I of the year in Johannesburg.
His knock of 112 off 51 balls against Sri Lanka in January included nine sixes and seven fours, equating to almost a boundary every three deliveries.
The effort was the second-fastest hundred for India in men's T20Is behind Rohit Sharma's 35-ball effort against the same opponent in 2017, and India were clear 91-run winners.
