Sports Desk

During the West Indies Test series, Liton Das could be heard on stump mic telling captain Mehedi Hasan Miraz when to bowl. His guidance was well appreciated within the team and in the T20I series, under Liton’s leadership, Bangladesh won with great adventure and pride in the T20Is.

Bangladesh’s captaincy hot seat was facing a change when Najmul Hossain Shanto wanted to step down from captaincy in all formats, a decision that was reversed after his discussion with BCB president Faruque Ahmed. Sources have informed that Shanto wanted to quit T20I captaincy at first.

Shanto skippered the team against South Africa and then in the ODIs against Afghanistan but with injury ruling him out of the West Indies series, Mehedi Hasan Miraz filled in as stand-in captain in the Test and ODIs while Liton captained the team in T20Is.

Although Liton had at one time been earmarked by the board as the captain, he lost the board’s confidence during the 2023 ODI World Cup. But Liton showed a keen edge in his captaincy during the 3-0 whitewash of West Indies.

“As far as captaincy is concerned, if the BCB asks me to lead then I am ready to do it and there is no reason to disagree with it and I am enjoying it,” Liton said at the press conference after Bangladesh’s 80-run win yesterday in St. Vincent.

Under Liton, Bangladesh had won against India in the home ODI series in 2022. But having been swept aside 3-0 in the ODIs, it was a hard task to play positively in the shortest format, usually one that Tigers struggle in consistently.

Liton said the players had the belief that they were playing good cricket.

“We played really good cricket in the Tests and even in the one-day format. Unfortunately we couldn’t win but if you look at the performances, we weren’t playing badly in the ODIs. So everyone was thinking of that continuity after having played good cricket despite not getting results and I feel everyone had that faith,” he said.

Asked what his instructions had been to inspire the side, Liton said he kept things fairly simple.

“As a captain, I never told them that they have to give it their all.

“All I said was that they [West Indies] are a better side and on their day they can destroy any team at their home ground. The information I gave to them was that we will go and enjoy the cricket and whatever the result is we will take that with a smiling face and we will try to fulfill our responsibilities,” he said.

Liton also felt that things such as setting the field or running the team was far easier than before given how the bowling attack has developed.

“I take a lot of decisions on the field from my experience of playing for so long and the skill that the bowlers developed means it is easier to run the match.

“Overall I would say that our bowling attack was outstanding on how they bowled in three formats, both the pacers and spinners. I was behind the wickets and I saw the [opposition] batters’ struggles and it felt good,” he felt.

Liton’s biggest challenge has been his responsibilities as a batter. He failed to inspire the team with the bat, scoring 17 runs in three matches with his highest being 14 in the just-concluded third T20I. He said he has been working with batting coach Mohammed Salahuddin to get back into runs.

“As a batter, I am trying [to get out of the slump]. Look sometimes it happens as a batter that you are going through a bad patch and with three formats being played, you continue to have a bad time. Salahuddin Sir is helping me a lot and since he knows most of the players from very young, it helps to discuss the cricketing things with him. I am conversing with him too and I feel I would get out of it soon,” he concluded.