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In a surprising development, Dawid Malan, the former World No.1 T20I batter and England international, has declared his retirement from international cricket.
The 37-year-old, who is one of only two England players to have achieved centuries in all three formats of men’s cricket, last featured for England during the 2023 ODI World Cup in India. He has since been left out of the 50-over squad.
The dynamic batter has an impressive ODI average of 55.77 from 30 innings, accompanied by a striking rate of 97.45. However, he has struggled to secure a place in the team since last year’s World Cup and has gradually faded from the spotlight.
While he has faced challenges in the ODI format, Malan has excelled in T20s, making a significant impact in the shorter format. He made a notable debut in T20Is in 2017 with a explosive 78 off 44 balls against South Africa, establishing himself as a powerful and influential batter.
From that point forward, Malan’s career trajectory was on the rise. He delivered strong performances during the subsequent winter’s Ashes tour, further building on his momentum. By September 2020, he ascended to the top of the ICC T20I batting rankings.
His ascent didn’t stop there. The following March, Malan became the fastest male player to reach 1,000 T20I runs, achieving this milestone in just 24 innings, most of which included scores in double figures.
With his reputation firmly established in the shorter format, he was a natural choice for the England squad in 2020, helping them secure the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
In an interview with The Times of London, Malan expressed that his only regret is not being able to solidify his career as a Test batter.
“I took all three formats extremely seriously but the intensity of test cricket was something else — five days plus the days building up,” Malan told the Times. “I’m a big trainer; I love hitting lots of balls and I’d train hard in the build-up, and then the days were long and intense. You can’t switch off.
“I found it very mentally draining, especially the long test series that I played, where my performances dropped off from the third or fourth test onwards.”
