The Bangladesh cricket team dropped senior batsman Litton Das from the team for the last ODI against Sri Lanka. Due to his poor form, the opening batsman has been released from the team ahead of the series decider, which will be played on Monday (March 18).
The team management has asked Litton Das to play in the Dhaka Premier League. The batsman has been going through a rough patch and has been racking up constant errors, which is the biggest cause of concern for the Bangladesh team.
The ongoing ODI series has been extremely torrid for Litton Das. The leadoff batter bagged ducks in both games. He seemed clueless with the bat and due to his poor form, Bangladesh cannot get a good start in the games.
Litton Das also failed to get going in the T20I series against Sri Lanka. The opening batsman recorded scores of 0, 36 and 7 in the three matches. Since the ICC World Cup 2023, he has had a torrid spell with the bat and has failed to score any runs.
Since the World Cup, Litton Das has scored only 313 runs in 14 ODIs he has played at an average of 24.07. He has crossed the 50-run mark only twice in that time, which speaks volumes about the rough patch he has been going through with the bat. He would now hope to get some runs under his belt in the Dhaka Premier League.
This is the first time since 2021 that Litton Das has left Bangladesh. He was left out of the T20I series against Pakistan in 2021. Returning this time would be difficult for him, considering the kind of competition there.
Jaker Ali replaces Litton Das in Bangladesh squad for third ODI against Sri Lanka
Bangladesh have included wicketkeeper-batsman Jaker Ali in the squad for the last ODI against Sri Lanka in place of Litton Das. The young batsman was impressive in the T20I series against Sri Lanka. He scored 68 runs in the first game and also has a decent record in List A, scoring 1918 runs in 84 matches.
Gazi Ashraf Hossain, chairman of the Bangladesh selection panel, spoke about the replacement and said that the addition of Jaker Ali will provide the team with balance in the middle order. He stated:
“With the series now on the line, we believe the addition of Jaker Ali will provide the team with more options and flexibility in the middle order. Taking into account Litton’s recent performance in white-ball cricket, we opted for this change, conscious of the availability of two other capable openers within the team.”
Bangladesh have Anamul Haque and Tanzid Hasan as two openers in the team. One of them is likely to open the innings alongside Soumya Sarkar. While Jaker Ali could bat in the middle order for the last match of the series.
Bangladesh team for the third ODI
Najmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Anamul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Tanzid Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Towhid Hridoy, Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Rishad Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Mustafizur Rahman, Jaker Ali