Dawid Malan, England’s former world No. 1 T20I batter, has announced his retirement from international cricket at the age of 37.
At the age of 37, England’s previous No. 1 T20I batter in the world, Dawid Malan, has announced his retirement from international cricket. In an interview with British daily ‘The Times,’ the left-handed hitter declared his decision in the wake of his exclusion from the forthcoming white-ball series against Australia. Malan and Jos Buttler are the only two men’s English players who have hit hundreds in Tests, ODIs, and T20Is. Despite this incredible accomplishment, Malan had not played for England since the 50-over World Cup in India the previous year.
“As a child, test cricket was always the ultimate goal. I felt like I could play better, but I also performed below expectations in white-ball formats. At moments, I was good, but in between, I was just not good enough or consistent enough, which was upsetting.
“I played all three of the forms quite seriously, but the five days of Test cricket plus the days leading up was something else. I used to train a lot; I enjoyed hitting a lot of balls and would work hard during the build-up. The days were then lengthy and demanding. You cannot turn off. I found it to be really mentally taxing, particularly the lengthy Test series I participated in, where I started to perform worse in the third or fourth Test,” Malan said to The Times.
Malan, who turns 37 next month, amassed 4416 runs during his career while playing in 22 Tests, 30 ODIs, and 62 T20Is.
With a spectacular T20I debut against South Africa in 2017, where he hit a free-flowing 78 from just 44 balls, he shot to prominence on the international scene. But he really made his name in Test cricket during the 2017–18 Ashes tour, when he and Jonny Bairstow struck a solid 140 in Perth.
Malan really found his calling in the 20-over format, particularly following England’s victory in the 2019 ODI World Cup. With his sheer force of runs, including a record-breaking 48-ball century against New Zealand in Napier, he forced his way into England’s T20 plans. He became the fastest men’s player to reach the top of the ICC T20I batting rankings in September 2020 because to his steady play, and by March 2021, he had 1,000 T201 runs in a just 24 innings of play.
Even though he was injured in his groin and missed the final rounds of the T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022, his ability in the shortest format was further demonstrated as he was instrumental in England’s success.
