BPL 2023 | Playing in tournament helped me tackle high-quality spinners, reveals Dawid Malan
Dawid Malan has claimed that playing in the Bangladesh Premier League has helped him to counter quality spinners in his international career. Further, he stated that the batters need to learn different ways to play spin as the opposition plays with three or four spinners in the tournament.
England batter Dawid Malan has flourished in his game in the T20Is and has scored 1748 runs so far with an average of 38.84 and a strike rate of 135.71. The cricketer also had a decent 2022 with 509 runs from 18 innings with an average of 33.93 and a strike rate of 132.20. He also climbed to the top of the ICC Rankings in 2021 and is currently plying his trade in the Bangladesh Premier League 2023. Reflecting on his stint in the tournament, Malan has stated that playing in the competition has helped him to counter high-quality spinners.
"I think definitely (on how playing in BPL helped him to get better against spin). The more you play in the subcontinent, the better. The more you learn skills... I am very big on trying to learn all the time. When you come to conditions like these, you face high-quality spinners,” Malan stated, reported Cricbuzz.
"A lot of T20 cricket here is bowled by spin, whereas in other tournaments, you probably only have one or two spinners per team. Here, you could have three or four. And the wickets also dictate that. So you have to learn to play an attacking game and I guess a conservative game as well, because, sometimes, it's a low-scoring wicket. And when it's a high-scoring game, you have to have a game to attack. I guess you learn different ways to go about playing spin.”
Malan is a seasoned campaigner in the tournament representing different franchises in Bangladesh’s domestic circuit. He has played for Barishal Bulls, Comilla Warriors and Khulna Titans. The batter is currently playing for Comilla Victorians and scored 17 in his first game against Rangpur Riders. Notably, Malan has also appeared in country’s traditional List A tournament - Dhaka Premier League in the 2013-14 edition. Reflecting on his experience of playing in Bangladesh, Malan stated that different pitches in Bangladesh offer different challenges and it is a learning experience.
"It (BPL) is one of the tournaments that I first played in. It gave me a stepping stone and it helped me learn my cricket. Not just BPL, DPL too and those tournaments helped me develop my game. Any chance I get to come to Bangladesh, I try to take that opportunity,” he explained.
"I think there are always different challenges in different countries. Different conditions, different pitches, different styles of play. Out here, we play at Chittagong... some of the best wickets you will ever play on. You play at Mirpur, you really don't know what you are going to get. You have to learn to adapt."
Malan is expected to leave the side to play for Sharjah Warriors in the International League T20 after their second game. However, he might return to the side by the Eliminator stage in case his team make it that far.
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