IPL 2021 Auction | No.1 T20I batsman Dawid Malan part of the Punjab Kings (PBKS) squad now

Dawid Malan was expected to cause a major bidding war in the 2021 IPL auction by several experts, fans as well as former professionals and with a good reason.

He is the number one ranked T20I batsman in the world of course. Malan amassed 397 runs in ten matches at 49.63 with four fifties, keeping a strike rate of 142.29 last year alone. That was the best phase of his career and he ended up reaching the biggest heights in ICC T20I batsman rankings: achieving the highest ever rating.

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Despite all of this, he failed to cause a storm in the auction and in the end, was sold to Punjab Kings at his base price of INR 1.2 Crores. Though the lack of interest in Malan during the auction was definitely surprising, the acquisition by Punjab can be labelled as top-notch. A batting order consisting of the likes of Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran already seemed irresistible. Adding Dawid Malan into the mix makes it look outrageous!

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Having played 19 T20I matches so far, the England batsman has scored 855 runs at an amazing average of 53.43. He has a century and nine half-centuries to his name and has a strike rate close to 150. Dawid Malan wasn’t in great shape during the most recent edition of the Big Bash League, but the IPL is a different arena. Having never played in IPL before, Dawid would want to make a solid impression.

Though he’s a top order batsman, it’ll be interesting to see how Punjab utilise his services. They already have 3-4 established batsmen at the top. Will Malan be a backup for Chris Gayle in the IPL or will Punjab find a room for him, these are some of the questions their fans will be asking as of this point. Regardless of whatever the answer might prove to be, they can stay assured that Punjab Kings have picked up a top player for an extremely reasonable price!