Christchurch [New Zealand], October 21 (ANI): Indian wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan is just 46 runs away from becoming the seventh Indian player to join the 2,000 T20I runs club and is also on the verge of breaking T20 World Cup-winning skipper Suryakumar Yadav's record for most T20I runs by an Indian during a calendar year. 

The five-match T20I series against New Zealand will start from Thursday onwards, with the first T20I to be held in Christchurch. Ishan, who has been in sensational form while batting at number three, has a chance to achieve some more milestones with his bat in what has been a breakout year for him in T20Is. 

So far in 66 T20Is, Ishan has made 1,954 runs in 66 innings at an average of 31.51, with a strike rate of 148.81, including a century and 13 fifties. His best score is 103. 

This year in 34 T20Is and innings, he has made 1,158 runs in 34 innings at an average of 37.35, with a strike rate of 172.06, with a century and seven fifties. He is just seven runs from overtaking Surya's record of 1,164 runs in 2022, the most T20I runs by an Indian during a calendar year. Ishan also stands just 139 runs away from breaking Pakistan's Mohammed Rizwan (1,326 runs in 29 innings with a century and 12 fifties in 2021) for most T20I runs during a calendar year by a batter from a Test-playing nation. 

In 49 T20s this year, Ishan has made 1,760 runs in 49 innings at an average of 38.26 and a strike rate of over 175, with a century and 13 fifties. With these five T20Is and a three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka in December awaiting him, he is just 240 runs away from becoming the first Indian to smash 2,000 T20 runs during a calendar year, something only achieved by West Indies star Nicholas Pooran (2,331 runs in 76 matches) and Pakistan's Mohammed Rizwan (2,036 runs in 48 matches in 2024 and 2021, respectively. 

India's T20I Squad: Shreyas Iyer [C], Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson [WK], Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan [WK], Tilak Varma [VC], Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Naman Dhir, Prince Yadav, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav. (ANI)