India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav played an unbeaten knock of 82 runs from 37 balls on Friday (January 23) to help the hosts chase down the target of 209 runs in 15.2 overs and secure a big win by 7 wickets over New Zealand in the 2nd T20I. During his stay at the crease for the world No. 1 T20I team on Friday at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur, Surya slammed 9 fours and 4 sixes for the Indian team and added 122 runs from just 48 balls for the third wicket with Ishan Kishan, who made 76 runs from 32 balls.
The score of 82 runs by Surya on Friday helped him break Virat Kohli’s record of highest score in T20Is by an Indian skipper against New Zealand.
Kohli played a knock of 65 runs from 42 balls against the Kiwis
in Rajkot on November 4, 2017.
Highest score in T20Is by Indian skipper against New Zealand
| PLAYER | RUNS | BALLS | 4/6s | VENUE | DATE |
| Suryakumar Yadav | 82* | 37 | 9/4 | Raipur | January 23, 2026 |
| Virat Kohli | 65 | 42 | 8/1 | Rajkot | November 4, 2017 |
| Rohit Sharma | 60* | 41 | 3/3 | Mount Maunganui | February 2, 2020 |
| Rohit Sharma | 56 | 31 | 5/3 | Kolkata | November 21, 2021 |
| Rohit Sharma | 55 | 36 | 1/5 | Ranchi | November 19, 2021 |
The score of 82 runs by Surya in the second T20I is also the fourth highest score in T20Is by an Indian batter against the Black Caps.
Highest individual scores for India in T20Is against New Zealand
| PLAYER | RUNS | BALLS | 4/6s | VENUE | DATE |
| Shubman Gill | 126* | 63 | 12/7 | Ahmedabad | February 1, 2023 |
| Suryakumar Yadav | 111* | 51 | 11/7 | Mount Maunganui | November 20, 2022 |
| Abhishek Sharma | 84 | 35 | 5/8 | Nagpur | January 21, 2026 |
| Suryakumar Yadav | 82* | 37 | 9/4 | Raipur | January 23, 2026 |
| Shikhar Dhawan | 80 | 52 | 10/2 | Delhi | November 1, 2017 |
| Rohit Sharma | 80 | 55 | 6/4 | Delhi | November 1, 2017 |
The knock of 82 runs by Surya also helped him overtake KL Rahul’s tally of 322 runs and become India’s second-highest run scorer in T20Is against the Black Caps.
Surya, who will lead India in the upcoming T20 World Cup, has 398 runs to his credit in 10 T20Is against New Zealand.
Only Rohit Sharma has scored more than Surya in the 20-over format of the game against New Zealand.
Most runs for India in T20Is against New Zealand
| PLAYER | MATCHES | RUNS | BEST SCORE | 100/50 | 4/6s |
| Rohit Sharma | 17 | 511 | 80 | 0/6 | 37/27 |
| Suryakumar Yadav | 10 | 398 | 111* | 1/2 | 39/20 |
| KL Rahul | 8 | 322 | 65 | 0/3 | 26/13 |
| Virat Kohli | 10 | 311 | 70 | 0/2 | 29/8 |
| Shreyas Iyer | 13 | 225 | 58* | 0/1 | 14/10 |
Rohit, who led India to a T20 World Cup title win in 2024, played 17 T20Is against New Zealand from 2009 to 2021 and scored 511 runs.
