CSK's Devon Conway accomplishes unique batting record following half-century against PBKS

Chennai: Devon Conway became the player with the best batting average in men's T20 cricket among the players who have scored at least 5000 runs in the T20 format on Sunday.

He accomplished this feat during his side Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against the Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League on Sunday. In the match, Conway scored a massive 92* off 52 balls, comprising 16 fours and one six, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Conway has an average of 44.41, followed by Pakistan's star batter Babar Azam, who has the second-best average of 44.02, and Mohammad Rizwan is third with 43.95. Indian batter KL Rahul is fourth with an average of 42.31, and Virat Kohli is in fifth position with 41.05.
The New Zealand batter has also accomplished 5,000 runs in T20 cricket.

Now in 149 matches and 144 innings, Conway has scored 5,063 runs at an average of 44.02. He has scored two centuries and 40 half-centuries in the format, with best score of 105*.

In terms of innings, Conway is the third-fastest to reach the 5,000-run mark in the shorter format. The fastest batter to do so is West Indies batting legend Chris Gayle (132 innings), followed by KL Rahul (143 innings) and then Conway. Australian batter Shaun Marsh and Pakistan's Babar Azam have also reached the 5,000-run mark in 144 innings.

He has represented New Zealand in 38 T20Is, in which he has scored 1,234 runs at an average of 45.70 at a strike rate of over 130. He has scored nine half-centuries in the format for the Kiwis, with the best score of 99*.
Conway has also played 16 IPL matches. In these matches, he has scored 666 runs in 16 innings at an average of 47.17. He has scored eight half-centuries for the franchise, with the best score of 92*.

He has also played 37 T20 matches for Wellington in domestic cricket, having scored 1,587 runs at an average of 61. He has scored two centuries and 11 fifties for the side, with the best score of 105.

Conway has also played eight matches for England County Somerset, in which he has scored 295 runs at an average of 59 with three half-centuries.

The top-five leading run scorers in T20 cricket are: Chris Gayle (14,562 runs), Shoaib Malik (12,528 runs), Kieron Pollard (12,175 runs), Virat Kohli (11,659 runs), and David Warner (11,485 runs).
Coming to the match, Conway (92*) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (37 in 31 balls) stitched an 86-run stand to power CSK to 200/4 in their 20 overs. Cameos from Shivam Dube (28 in 17 balls) and MS Dhoni (13* in four balls) also proved useful.
Arshdeep Singh, Sam Curran, Rahul Chahar and Sikandar Raza got a wicket each. (ANI)