Litton Das has been excluded from the 15-member Bangladesh squad, the Bangladesh Cricket Board on Sunday announced for the ICC Champions Trophy.
It was already known that Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal will not be included.
However, it is a surprise that Liton Das has been left out
However, considering Litton’s recent performance in the ODIs, it would not be accurate to call this a surprise. He has not scored runs in his last seven innings.
Litton’s latest half-century was in the 2023 World Cup against India in Pune. Since then, his best innings was a score of 45 against Pakistan in that same World Cup.
In the next two matches of the World Cup, against Sri Lanka and Australia, he scored 23 and 36, respectively.
Since then, Litton seems to have forgotten how to score runs in ODIs.
In December of the same year, during a series against New Zealand in Mirpur, he scored 22, 6, and an unbeaten 1 in three matches. His trend of getting out for single-digit scores started around that time.
Bangladesh squad
Najmul Hossain (capt), Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Soumya Sarkar, Towhid Hridoy, Taskin Ahmed, Nahid Rana, Jaker Ali, Tanzid Hasan, Tanzeem Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Rishad Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, and Parvez Hossain.
After being dismissed for a duck in the first two matches against Sri Lanka in Chattogram last March, Litton was dropped from the team in the third match.
He was sent to Dhaka to play in the Dhaka Premier League. In December, during Bangladesh’s tour of the West Indies, the team won the T20 series under Litton’s captaincy.
However, his batting struggles continued there as well. In the three T20 matches, he scored a total of 17 runs (0, 3, and 14). Prior to that, his performance in the ODI series had been even worse, scoring 2, 4, and 0 in three matches.
The squad includes four fast bowlers – Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahman, Nahid Rana, and Tanzim Hasan. Shoriful Islam and Hasan Mahmud have been dropped. Both of them were part of the team in the recent ODI series against the West Indies.
Apart from Litton, Afif Hossain has also been dropped from that team. The squad has three spinners – Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Nasum Ahmed, and Rishad Hossain.
Although the selectors wanted Tamim Iqbal in the squad, he announced his retirement two days ago.
As for Shakib Al Hasan, if included, he would only have been selected as a batter. This is because after his bowling action came under scrutiny while playing county cricket in England, Shakib failed two tests and has not passed yet.
Shakib will not be allowed to bowl in international cricket until he passes another test and gets clearance.
The Champions Trophy will start on 19 February. This hybrid model tournament will be held in Pakistan and Dubai. Bangladesh’s first match will be on 20 February against India in Dubai.
From there, the team will travel to Pakistan. The next two matches in Rawalpindi will be on 24 and 27 February, against New Zealand and the host team, Pakistan.
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