England have found a clutch of top quality limited overs batsmen over the past five years and that is what has helped them improve their fortunes in both ODIs and T20Is. While they won the elusive 50-over World Cup title at home in 2019, their resurgence in white ball cricket started in the shortest format, as Eoin Morgan's side reached the final of the 2016 ICC WT20 in India and narrowly missed out on becoming champions.
With the ICC T20 World Cup slated to take place in India later this year, England will be keen to test their preparedness in the 5-match series against India that begins from Friday. One man who will be the centre of attraction is Dawid Malan, the top ranked T20I batsman in the world.
Malan has been in outstanding form in the format over the past couple of years and has played a huge role in England's victorious run in T20Is. The southpaw scored four half-centuries in his first five matches since making his debut in June 2017 and has never looked back.
Malan has scored 855 runs in 19 innings at an awe-inspiring average of 53.43. His consistency can be gauged from the fact that he has scored 9 half-centuries and a century in just 19 innings, which means he has scored 50 runs or more in more than half the number of times he has come out to bat for England.
His numbers get even more astonishing when one looks at his record at the number 3 slot, where he bats most often. He has the best average and strike-rate among all number 3 batsmen, who have scored 500 or more runs and left several greats like Virat Kohli and Babar Azam in his wake with his show.
{{/usCountry}}His numbers get even more astonishing when one looks at his record at the number 3 slot, where he bats most often. He has the best average and strike-rate among all number 3 batsmen, who have scored 500 or more runs and left several greats like Virat Kohli and Babar Azam in his wake with his show.
{{/usCountry}}He is the only number 3 batsman to average more than 60 in that list and also has a strike rate of above 150, which is impressive. He has been the biggest driving force behind England's rise to the top of the pile in ICC T20I rankings and Eoin Morgan would expect his talisman to deliver again on this tough and crucial tour of India.
It is an important tour for the top order batsman keeping the upcoming IPL in mind too. Malan was picked up for ₹1.5 crore by Punjab Kings and he would want to give his new employers a taste of what to expect this season when he bats against India in the five-match series.
Malan has gathered a lot of praise from cricket pundits due to his fearless stroke play against pace on spicy pitches. But India will be a test of his skills against the turning ball and that will be a contest to watch out for.