Litton Kumar Das was summoned to the press conference room at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium within a half-hour of his official appointment as captain for the remaining two matches of the ongoing series against Afghanistan.
As previously reported by CricAdvisor, BCB chose Litton as a stop-gap arrangement for the series following the unexpected retirement of Tamim Iqbal from international cricket, who was also the 50-over format’s captain.
It was evident that the press conference would coalesce around queries about the unexpected departure of the veteran campaigner, but Litton did not take the time to make it clear that the topic would not be discussed.
“Bhai(brother) I came here to talk about tomorrow. If you ask questions regarding Tamim here, then the board president or the coach is more appropriate than me and I think I should leave,” Litton told reporters at one point of the press conference which indicated that they have gotten over the shock and are now trying to look forward without their most successful batter across formats.
“I came to know about it (his retirement) at 1 in the afternoon. Certainly, I have played with him for a long time and no one realized that he would take such a decision but the decision is made by the elder brother and all the member of the team respects his decision and I feel everyone should do the same,” he said.
“We know their major strength is spin and we need to make sure we don’t lose too many wickets because in that case we will be in the game,” he said.
“In the last game the first 10 overs were challenging but we did well and I don’t think we have any complain regarding it. The thing that we miss is that our batsmen make mistakes when it comes to execution. We did not get out against good balls. At times you will get out against scoring deliveries and we need try to minimize our mistakes,” he said.
“It is not a fact that we need to score 300 always, if it is 300 or 350 runs wicket and we are set, it will happen but if the wicket demands 250, in that case we should try to get that,” he added.
Bangladesh had a full practice session at the ZACS, and despite the cricketers’ gloomy expressions when they stepped off the bus in the morning, they appeared determined to turn the series around against the Afghans, who are leading the series by a 1-0 margin with two games remaining.
Litton hoped Bangladesh would not lose wickets in the middle overs against Afghanistan’s spin threat, and he emphasized the need to bat according to the match circumstance.
“It is difficult to say whether we will miss him because today I am here tomorrow I might not be here due to injury and no one will miss me because newcomers will come into the side and this is the process. If he was around, it could or could not be but as he is not available anymore, I don’t think there is no need to talk with me about the topic anymore. I don’t think there is any point looking at something that is gone rather we need to focus on what we can do in future and bring good for the country and we need to try and do that,” he said adding that he is not feeling any pressure of captaincy.
“No, no, chill,” he said when asked whether he is feeling the heat or not.
Bangladesh will begin their voyage without Tamim Iqbal, as he is apparently not interested in making a comeback despite the BCB president’s request to reconsider. It remains to be seen how the team will progress without the trusted soldier, who has been an intrinsic part of the team for the past 16 years.
Despite the fact that Tamim’s retirement has jolted the country’s cricketing community to its core, Litton appeared eager to embark on their new journey.
The second match between Bangladesh and Afghanistan will be contested at ZACS on July 8, and the series will conclude on July 11.
