Dawid Malan
England cricketer and No.1 T20I batsman in the world, Dawid Malan, on Saturday beat Virat Kohli and Babar Azam to become the fastest batsman to amass 1000 runs in the format. He achieved the feat during the fifth and final T20I game against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Malan, who was under pressure owing to his tally of 79 runs in the first four games with no half-century scores, scored an impressive half-century as a better strike rate to get to the milestone. With the half-century, he amassed 1000 runs in the format in what is his 24th T20I innings. He hence beat the previous fastest batsman, Babar, who completed the tally in 26 innings while the Indian skipper took 27 innings to reach the milestone.
Earlier in the evening, Captain Kohli, playing as an opener for the eighth time in his T20I career, hammered 80 not out off 52 balls (7x4s, 2x6s) and Rohit Sharma smashed 64 off 34 balls (4x4s, 5x6s) to help India to 224 for two wickets in 20 overs -- their highest score against England -- in the fifth and final T20 International on Saturday.
Hardik Pandya remained unbeaten on 39 off 17 balls (4x4s, 2x6s) Suryakumar Yadav made 32 off 17 balls (3x4s, 2x6s) towards the close to propel the home team to the huge total.
The series is tied 2-2 at the moment.
(with IANS inputs)
