Year Ender 2023: Shubman to Surya & more, 5 players who top scored for Team India in T20s

New Delhi: The Indian cricket team registered a rather disappointing calendar year in 2023, as they lost two ICC trophy finals.

After reaching the finals of the World Test Championship for the second successive time, India once again was denied the opportunity to lift an ICC trophy by the Aussie team, who defeated them in the finals.

Five months later, the men in blue got one more opportunity to end their decade-long wait for an ICC trophy, when they reached the finals of ICC ODI World Cup 2023.

However, once again, the Indian side was denied their chance to win an ICC trophy as they lost yet another ICC tournament final to the Aussies, ending their overall ODI and Test campaign for the year in a disappointing manner.

Interestingly, India enjoyed a comparatively successful T20I season, as they registered their personal best, five individual centuries in 2023, which is one more than their previous best of four in 2023.

As India has already played their last T20I match for the year, let’s take a look at the top 5 Individual scores by the Indian batsmen in 2023.

5] Surya Kumar Yadav- 100 vs South Africa

On December 14, 2023, in the last T20I match of the year for team India, they needed to register a win against the Proteas in the last match of the series to draw the series.

Proteas skipper, Aiden Markram, won the toss and invited team India to bat first.

Surya Kumar Yadav, who was also the Indian skipper for the series, came out to bat when the team was struggling at 29 for 2.

Ball by ball century of Surya Kumar Yadav today pic.twitter.com/0sVqdqsA3m

— Ankit Pathak 🇮🇳 (@ankit_acerbic) December 14, 2023

Surya started his innings slow but gradually accelerated it towards the end to complete his record fourth T20I century, taking India to an eventually winning total of 201 for 7.

Surya Kumar Yadav, in his 100 runs innings, played a total of 56 balls and scored seven boundaries and eight sixes.

4] Yashasvi Jaiswal- 100 vs Nepal

The Indian cricket team was playing their first ever Asian Games match, in the quarterfinal 1 match against Nepal in the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games.

Indian skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and opted to bat first, and on a surface where all the other batsmen found it hard to hit big shots, Yashasvi Jaiswal took on the charge of the onslaught on his shoulders and registered a hard-hitting century to take his team to a strong total.

Yashasvi scored 100 runs in just 49 deliveries, with the help of eight boundaries and seven sixes.

India went on to win the match and the tournament to lift their first gold medal in the event.

3] Surya Kumar Yadav 112* vs Sri Lanka

On January 7, 2023, the men in blue were up against the Sri Lankan Lions in the third T20I match of the series, with the fate of the series on the line.

The series was level at 1-1, after two matches, and the winner of the third and final match would also win the series.

Indian skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to bat first.

India already got a good start in the match, thanks to Shubman Gill and Manish Pandey, and banking on the already set best, Indian Mr. 360, struck shots all around the ground to complete 112* runs in 51 balls with the help of seven boundaries and nine sixes.

India went on to win the match and series later on.

2] Ruturaj Gaikwad 123* vs Australia

India was playing Australia in a five-match T20I series, and as they had lost the ICC World Cup 2023 finals to the same team, and emotions were running pretty high.

India, who had already won the first two matches of the series, were aiming to win the third match and seal the series with a win.

Australian skipper Mathew Wade won the toss and invited the men in blue to bat first.

India, while batting first, was reduced to 81 for three after 10.2 overs, with Ruturaj standing on one side playing run-a-ball innings.

However, Ruturaj accelerated his innings drastically in the second half, taking his score from 22* off 22 deliveries to 123* off 52 deliveries, with the help of 13 boundaries and seven sixes.

Interestingly, Australia went on to win the game, but India went on to win the series by 4-1.

1] Shubman Gill- 126* vs New Zealand

On February 1, India was taking on the New Zealand team with the three-match series level at 1-1, after two matches.

India, while batting first, lost their first wicket with just seven runs on board, but the other opener, Shubman Gill, went on to score a not-out 126 runs innings, with the help of 12 boundaries and seven sixes.

Shubman’s 126* is also the highest individual score in T20I for the men in blue.

India went on to win the match by 168 runs and the series by a 2-1 margin.