Bangladesh stand-in skipper Litton Das insisted that experienced campaigners Tamim Iqbal and Mahmudullah don’t have to take any pressure in their comeback series and should focus on enjoying the game.
Bangladesh will take on New Zealand in the three-match ODI series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium from September 21.
Mahmudullah and Tamim are making a comeback in the ODIs and the former, who last played in the home series against England, would be keen to seize the opportunity to ensure his World Cup berth. Meanwhile Tamim returned after recovering from back injury but whether he is match-fit still remains to be seen.
“When there are two seniors (Tamim and Mahmudullah) it helps in every way,” Litton told reporters at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday (September 20). “There are coming back to play after a while and I don’t want to put any pressure on them. Let them enjoy the game because chance of success is much more if someone can enjoy the game.”
Litton stressed that as captain he doesn’t have to make Mahmudullah or Soumya Sarkar, who is also making a comeback, understand their roles as they are experienced enough to know what’s expected of them.
“I don’t want to tell about any specific roles (to anyone) because it depends on different situations. If we lose quick wickets and Riyad (Mahmudullah) bhai goes to bat with 30 to 35 overs he will bat as per situation. So there is nothing to say because he is mature and the same thing applies to Soumya and wherever they will bat they will try to score runs. And not only need them every batter need to score runs,” he said.
On a personal note, Litton insisted that he’s not short on confidence despite not being among runs in the recent past and is hoping to make a strong return to form sooner than later.
Since 2019, Litton is the leading scorer for his country making 1508 runs in 43 ODIs at an average of 39.68 but his returns have dwindled since he’s made only one half-century in his last nine innings in the 50-overs format.
“I am trying to find out (my shortcomings) and practicing and hopefully I can make a comeback quickly. There is nothing like (short of) confidence and let’s see what happens,” said Litton.
Bangladesh began their training for the series on September 19 but failed to complete it due to rain and it was the same case at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today (September 20).
“We couldn’t do anything tactically because we could not practice for the last couple of days and don’t know how much can we practice today and probably we might have to play the main match without practice. This is a mental game and they have quality spinners (apart from pace bowlers),” he noted.
