The rapid rise of Dawid Malan in T20Is

Background

A flamboyant left-handed batsman, Malan joined Middlesex in 2006 as a 20-year-old and went on to become one of their lead performers in county cricket. He went on to play for Middlesex until 2019, even captaining them in 2018 in all three formats, before switching to Yorkshire. He remains one of Middlesex's top scorers in the Twenty20 Cup with 3227 runs in 127 games.

From 2008 to 2018, Malan held the record for the highest score in T20s batting at No.6. It still is the third-best score at that position.

Entry in international cricket

Consistent performances on the domestic circuit earned him a place in England's T20I squad for the South Africa series in 2017. He made his debut in the third match, scoring a scintillating 78 off just 44 balls – the highest T20I score by an England debutant. In spite of making only sporadic appearances on account of England's experience-rich side, Malan has performed well more often than not.

He was selected for the Trans-Tasman T20I series, featuring Australia and New Zealand alongside England in February 2018 and emerged as England's top run-scorer in the tournament. He scored 172 runs in four matches at 43.00, including three fifties. He was the only England batsman to go past 100 runs in the series. Despite such a strong showing, Malan's next T20I appearance came only one and a half year later in November 2019.

Selected for England's tour to New Zealand, Malan lit up the T20I series aggregating 208 runs in four matches, tipping Eoin Morgan to top the run-scoring charts. In the fourth T20I, he scored his first and, so far, only T20I century. His hundred came off 48 balls, the fastest for an England batsman in the format. His 103* resulted in England posting a record 241/3, their highest T20I total ever.

Performances in 2020

In the seven T20Is, Malan has played this year, he has scored 224 runs, including two half-centuries. He was consistent in the series against Pakistan last month and carried on in the same vein to churn out even better performances against Australia. In three matches, he finished as the highest run-scorer of the series with 129 runs.

MRF Tyres ICC Men's T20I Player Rankings for batting

Malan's exploits in New Zealand last year gained him a re-entry in the T20I batting rankings in the third spot. Malan and Finch move towards the top in T20I rankings. Having kept his place in the rankings since then, Malan grabbed the top spot displacing the talented Babar Azam after the end of the Australia series.

Highly consistent, tenacious and explosive, Malan has emerged as one of England's top-performing batsmen in the shortest format. In fact, only Jason Roy has a better strike-rate (minimum 250 balls) than him in T20Is.

The 33-year-old has accumulated 682 runs in just 16 T20Is with eight fifty-plus scores and remains a solid contender for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.