Thought door was closed on England Test recall, says Dawid Malan

England cricketer Dawid Malan is set to make his first appearance for the nation in the longest format of the game, since 2018 in the upcoming third Test against India. Malan admitted that he believed the door was closed on any potential recall to the English setup for Test cricket. He further termed the opportunity to be a part of England skipper Joe Root’s squad for the upcoming third Test as an “unbelievable feeling”.

Malan will be seen batting at number three in the order, for the encounter set to take place at Headingley, beginning on Wednesday.

“To be back here is an unbelievable feeling. I didn’t really think it would ever happen again, I must admit. I thought my Test door was closed, so to get another opportunity is fantastic. Hopefully, you go out and do your best and you do better than you did last time,” said the English cricketer in an interaction with Sky Sports.

Malan averaged 27.84 across 26 innings during his first stint in the Test side. One of his most significant performances was recorded in the 2017/18 Ashes Test in Perth, where he scored an excellent 140. While England lost the series 4-0, Malan finished as the leading run-scorer for the visitors.

“You work your absolute socks off to play for England”

The cricketer was astonishingly dropped from the setup after just seven months, with the then national selector Ed Smith suggesting his game may be better suited to overseas conditions.

“I think at the time when you get dropped you’re very emotional, you feel you should be playing. You work your absolute socks off in your career to earn the right to play for England and you get that call. I didn’t score enough runs, especially in those last four or five Tests, so it was about the right time. But to then have comments that derail you slightly as a player and get pigeonholed into things, it probably did affect me.”

Malan has been a consistent performer for England’s T20I team in recent times, showcasing his talent in the shortest format after being sidelined from Test cricket. He is currently the world’s number one ranked batsman in the format, averaging 43.19 across his 30 caps.

“We all know how tough English conditions can be at times”

However, an area of concern is the limited exposure to Test cricket following his extensive involvement in white-ball cricket.

“Yes, not playing a lot of red-ball cricket probably doesn’t help with the rhythms and the flows of Test cricket but that’s the challenge that we as players have. I think we all know how tough English conditions can be at times; a good 30 or 60 is not good enough really, you want to score those big hundreds and to do that you have to bat for a day, day and a half. That’s where the challenge comes when you don’t play a lot of red-ball cricket, but I don’t think we’d be here if we didn’t believe we could do it,” concluded Malan.

It will be interesting to see if the English cricketer can help the nation make a comeback in the ongoing five-match Test series against India.