England’s batter Dawid Malan showcased his batting skills during his side’s second match of the ICC World Cup 2023 against Bangladesh at the HPCA Stadium, Dharamshala, in India on Tuesday. Malan, 36, engraved his name in cricket history with his masterclass in a crucial game by becoming the fastest player to score six One Day Internationals (ODI) tons. The left-handed batter reached this milestone in 23 innings, beating Pakistan’s Imam-ul-Haq record who did it in 27 innings. After Imam, Sri Lanka’s Upul Tharanga is third with 29 innings, Pakistan’s Babar Azam is fourth with 32 innings while South Africa’s Hashim Amla is fifth with 34 innings. After an underwhelming start to their World Cup campaign where they were handed a heavy defeat by the runner-ups of the 2019 mega event, New Zealand, England needed to put up a massive total as they were asked to bat first. Malan scored 140 off 107 deliveries with a handsome 130.84 strike rate helping his side post a colossal 364-run total in 50 overs. His blistering knock included 21 boundaries, 16 fours and five sixes. Malan broke two more individual records in Dharamshala with his remarkable knock. First, he broke Virat Kohli’s nine-year-old record of the highest individual score in Dharamshala where the Indian batter scored 127 runs against West Indies in 2014. During Malan’s innings, when he crossed the 113-run mark, he also broke his countryman Ian Bell’s record of the highest individual ODI score by a visiting batter at the same venue. This was Malan’s fourth ODI century this year, with which he joined the elite company of English batters to have scored the most ODI centuries in a single year.
ICC World Cup: Dawid Malan breaks Imam-ul-Haq’s record
