Liton Das's batting yesterday against Zimbabwe encapsulated Bangladesh's worries going into the T20 World Cup in June, with the top-order failing to find rhythm in the game's shortest format.

The right-handed opener’s lengthy string of failures has most definitely begun to eclipse the sunshine provided by the few glimpses of sparkling performances which had ample promise to make him a potential world-beater.

“Liton Das has so much to offer us. Liton Das is a world class cricketer. He is one innings away from having an unbelievable World Cup.”

The dropped catch from Jaker made the equation a little harder for the Tigers in the second T20I but more importantly, it added another worry for the team’s think tank heading into the T20 World Cup

Abahani head coach Khaled Mahmud Sujon lamented the departure of 10 first-team players from his side ahead of a Dhaka Premier League Super League contest against Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club at BSKP Ground-4 on Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, Sujon asserted that the new selection panel has created a balanced team with the preparatory squad.

Abahani batters Liton Das and Towhid Hridoy adopted vastly contrasting approaches while chasing a meagre 179-run total in their five-wicket win over Prime Bank Cricket Club in the Super League of the ongoing Dhaka Premier League at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Monday.

The Dhaka Premier League (DPL) action moves into the Super League phase following Eid holidays, starting on Monday.

“He [Liton] needs to get back to his basics... He needs to mix more with others and give time to cricket,” Mahmud told reporters yesterday.

“If you ask me, it would have been better had Liton not played in the Test,” Papon told the media today.

If Liton has some issue to sort out, the team management knows it better than anyone else.

“I can’t speak about Liton’s dismissal. Liton can explain it better. But yes, you don’t see such dismissals often in Test cricket,” Shanto said after the match

Batting disasters are a regular event in Bangladesh’s Test cricket and having slumped in the first innings, the Bangladesh batters once again failed to take up the challenge against a resurgent Sri Lanka pace attack on the third day of the Sylhet Test yesterday.

“Our batting, to me, was really unexpected and not at all acceptable,” Razzak told the media after the day’s play.

Bangladesh lost five wickets for 47 runs in 13 overs late on the third day of Sylhet Test, having been earlier set a victory target of 511 runs by Sri Lanka on Sunday.

Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha said that he would like Liton Das to get back to form and score a lot more runs in red-ball cricket, starting with the upcoming two-Test series against Sri Lanka.

Bangladesh opener Liton Das was omitted from the 15-member squad for the third ODI against Sri Lanka, scheduled to take place in Chattogram tomorrow. The move comes on the heels of his persisting struggle with form, notably marked by consecutive dismissals for ducks in the ongoing home ODI series against the visitors.

“With the series now hanging in the balance, we believe Jaker Ali’s addition will provide the team with more options and flexibility in the middle order.”

Bangladesh’s star opener Liton Das is going through a rough patch, and veteran coach Nazmul Abedeen Fahim thinks that the more pressure will be put on Liton, the harder it will be for him to get back amongst runs.

Yesterday’s duck was Liton’s 14th in ODIs and seventh since January 2023. In fact, no other batter among Test-playing nations has been dismissed for naught in ODIs more than Liton since last year.