Cricket in 2023: Suryakumar Yadav, Hayley Matthews and other top performers in Twenty20 Internationals

Another year has flown by in the blink of an eye, and it’s that time of the calendar when we sit back and reflect on some of the standout memories from 2023 before welcoming the new year in style.

As far as cricket in 2023’s concerned, Australia were by far the most dominant side this year, winning all three global events taking place. Teams such as India and South Africa were among the teams that gave the Aussies a proper fight; the Indians finishing runners-up in the Men’s World Test Championship final and the World Cup final and the Proteas reaching the Women’s T20 World Cup final.

Rewind 2023: India dominates all formats, only to miss out on ICC trophies

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian women’s team reached the semi-finals of the Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa, where the skipper nearly led her side to a thrilling victory over defending champions and eventual winners Australia.

The Proteas, on the other hand, defeated England in thrilling fashion in the other semi-final to become the first South African team to reach a World Cup final — in either the men’s or women’s game in both the ODI and T20I formats. The Sune Luus-led side, however, would get overpowered by the Aussies in the final, suffering a 19-run defeat.

Rewind 2023: Looking back at cricket’s highs and lows this year through numbers

With the year 2023 drawing to a close, we take a look at some of the top performers in the T20I format among both men and women (from the top 15 teams on the ICC rankings):

Most runs

Men:

Suryakumar Yadav (India): 733
Mark Chapman (New Zealand): 575
Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe): 515
Nikolaas Davin (Namibia): 444
Yashasvi Jaiswal (India): 430

Women:

Hayley Matthews (West Indies): 700
Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa): 586
Tazmin Brits (South Africa): 489
Chamari Athapaththu (Sri Lanka): 470
Suzie Bates (New Zealand): 435

Most wickets:

Men:

Mark Adair (Ireland): 26
Arshdeep Singh (India): 26
Richard Ngarava (Zimbabwe): 26
Ravi Bishnoi (India): 18
Ryan Burl (Zimbabwe): 17

Women:

Thipatcha Putthawong (Thailand): 32
Nattaya Boochatham (Thailand): 31
Sophie Ecclestone (England): 23
Robine Rijke (Netherlands): 23
Megan Schutt (Australia): 21

Winners of major events:

Women’s T20 World Cup: Australia