It may have been two years since he played for South Africa, but top order batsman Janneman Malan has not given up on playing for the Proteas.
In 2022 Malan was voted the ICC Emerging Men’s Cricketer of the Year and was also voted in the ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year, but that was before his performances took a dip.
Now aged 28, Malan made his T20 International debut for South Africa in 2019 and his One-Day International debut the following year.
Despite a lean run which led to him being dropped from the SA side in 2022, Malan still boasts an ODI average of 47 with four half-centuries and three tons.
Once upon a time....🥹 Hope he returns soon to the national team.....💚![CDATA[]]>💯 @Janneman_Malan@ProteasMenCSA#JannemanMalan #Proteas #SouthAfrica #JSK pic.twitter.com/Xy9ctnrXBv
— Basith (@BasithSab) August 14, 2024
Poor run
Malan’s last Proteas involvement was the 2-1 ODI series loss to India in 2022. In that series, Malan struggled with just 62 runs in total. That year, Malan managed just 235 runs at an average of 26 - way below his career mark.
The India series proved to be his last chance to remain in the Proteas setup.
Malan explained to SportsBoom.com what transpired at the time.
“I can only answer from my perspective, if you look at what happened (being dropped), I think it was just a lot of things coming together, of course I was struggling with form a bit,” he said.
“There were a couple of series’ where I didn't knock the lights out, but I think everyone goes through dips, and it was just unfortunate that I was going through that.
“At that time I couldn’t see a way out, and I also think there was a change of management at the Proteas, and I respect that they wanted to go in a different direction.”
The Proteas selectors had no choice but to go another route at that time, Malan conceded.
“They had players that they believed should be in the squads, and I respect that, and obviously it was players that made runs.”
“But at the end of the day, it's a lot of stuff that came together, and I just had to score runs, and to be honest, I just think I didn’t score enough runs and it's that simple.”
However, Malan feels he can still make a comeback.
“If I can get the belief and trust in my abilities and enjoy the game, I obviously still want to play at the highest level again. It's not something that is in front of my mind; for now I just want to enjoy the game, because it has been something I've been missing the last couple of years.”