Karanbir Singh may be a name unheard of in the cricketing world, but the record for most runs in T20I cricket in a calendar year now belongs to him.
Karanbir rewrote the record and surpassed Pakistan batter Mohammad Rizwan’s world record of 1,326 runs, set in 2021. He achieved the record during Austria’s tour of Romania recently, showcasing an extraordinary blend of consistency, power-hitting, and sheer dominance with the bat.
When the tour began, Karanbir needed 87 runs to go past Rizwan’s record. In a thrilling double-header on October 18, he blasted 57 runs off just 27 balls in the first match and followed it up with a masterful 90 off 46 deliveries in the second match – enough to surpass Rizwan’s mark. But Karanbir was not done yet; on the next day, he added another 74 in 44 balls and 27 in 12 to extend the record further, taking his tally to 1,488 runs for the year.
Karanbir also smashed 19 fours across the series, bringing his total to 127 for the calendar year – eight more than Rizwan’s previous world record. His 122 sixes stand out even more, nearly double the nearest competitor, with Suryakumar Yadav having hit 68 sixes in 2022.
The series saw several outstanding performances. During the fourth T20I at the Moara Vlasiei Cricket Ground in Ilfov County, Karanbir’s teammate Bilal Zalmai reached the 1,000-run milestone in a calendar year, becoming only the fourth cricketer to achieve this feat. Meanwhile, Bahrain’s Fiaz Ahmed is closing in on the mark, needing just 57 more runs to reach 1,000 for the year.
As Austria’s tour of Romania continues, Karanbir’s record-breaking exploits and the emergence of other prolific run-scorers like Zalmai signal a thrilling rise of talent in associate cricket, reminding fans that extraordinary cricketing feats are no longer confined to the traditional powerhouses.
Most runs in a calendar year in men’s T20Is:
Karanbir Singh of Austria – 1488 runs in 32 innings – 2025
Mohammad Rizwan of Pakistan – 1326 runs in 26 innings – 2021
Suryakumar Yadav of India – 1164 runs in 31 innings – 2022