The 2023 edition of the Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack, published today on April 18 (Tuesday), has conferred Suryakumar Yadav as their Leading T20 Cricketer in the World. Harmanpreet Kaur is also named as one of five players for the Wisden Cricketers of the Year honour. With that, she has become the first Indian woman to achieve this prestigious award in the 160 year history of the Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack.
Suryakumar Yadav has been a sensation in T20 Cricket ever since he made his India debut against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad a couple of years ago. He smashed Jofra Archer for a six over fine-leg off the very first ball to announce himself in international cricket. Surya ended up scoring 57 off 31 deliveries in a winning cause against the English team and bagged himself a man of the match award in the process.
Since then, SKY has amassed 1675 T20I runs in 46 innings at an incredible strike-rate of 175.76 with three hundreds and fifteen fifties. His highest T20I score came against England in a losing cause as he put together 117(55) with 14 fours and 6 sixes at Trent Bridge, Nottingham last year.
Harmanpreet Kaur, the current captain of the Indian women’s cricket team, who won the Wisden Cricketers of the Year honour alongside Ben Foakes, Matthew Potts, Tom Blundell, and Daryl Mitchell, has been performing incredibly well for his country in international cricket in recent times. In 2022, she has scored 754 runs in 16 ODI innings at a great average of 58.76 and strike-rate of 89.76 with two hundreds and five fifties. Meanwhile in T20I Cricket, Harman put together 227 runs in 8 innings at a decent strike-rate of 117.01 with a couple of quality fifties against West Indies and Australia.
Furthermore, Ben Stokes and Beth Mooney also won the Leading Cricketers in the World award in the Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack.