England’s much-improved batsman — Dawid Malan has categorically mentioned that he is not even near to Indian skipper and batting giant, Virat Kohli despite his good Twenty20 results thus far.
“I don’t think I’m anywhere near as good as Virat Kohli and those guys even though the numbers are sort of suggesting that,” EspnCricinfo quoted Malan as saying.
Pertinently, Malan himself admitted the fact, that he is not having that skillset which Kohli inherits in the contemporary cricket — and if he had played around 50 matches thing it would have been altogether a different scenario to compare him with supremely gifted batsman, Kohli.
At the same time, he asserted that he wants to be consistent with his performances to make it big in the international arena.
Dawid Malan wants to excel in competitive cricket:
“Maybe if I played 50 games I could be compared to some extent. But all I can do is score runs,” he added.
The middle-order batter Malan had fared quite well against Pakistan in T20Is before taking on Australia to be placed fifth on Twenty20 ICC’s batsmen rankings with 771 rating points.
Since making his debut in 2017, Malan might not have pretty results in Test cricket; however, he had done incredibly well in the T20Is.
In 15 T20Is, the 33-year-old Malan had aggregated 661 runs at an average of 50.8. He had a ton and seven half-centuries under his belt. This thoroughly reflects that how Malan had delivered in the white-ball cricket despite featuring in a single ODI game in 2019.
Recently, Malan helped England to seal T20I series against Australia following an 87-run partnership with Jos Buttler. The hosts won the second game by six wickets to take an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the three-match T20I series.
Besides, Malan added those star players fare well regularly – and he personally knows how those players have maintained their respective records for nearly half-a-decade. And, if anyone wants to be compared, he has to do exceedingly well and win matches for England.
“We all know how good the players are that hold those positions. Their records over the last four or five years have been fantastic. For anyone to break-in, you have to be extremely consistent and win games of cricket for England,” Malan said.
Dawid Malan sets focus on T20 World Cup 2021:
Meanwhile, Malan despite not cementing his spot in English cricket team – is aiming high for the next year’s World Cup scheduled in India. He is looking forward to scoring the bulk of runs and to be optimistic that results might turn in his favour and eventually push selectors to consider his role.
“If I keep scoring runs at the rate I’m scoring at hopefully it will make it hard for them to ignore what I’m doing and I can somehow find a way into that starting XI,” Dawid Malan concluded.
Being into the bio-secure bubble, it would be interesting to see how Dawid Malan would fare in the third and final T20 which is scheduled on Tuesday (September 8) at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.