Liton Das has been rated as a generational talent for Bangladesh ever since he debuted.
While Tamim Iqbal has been the most consistent opener for Bangladesh across all formats, Liton Das has been nowhere near in terms of consistency. In T20 World Cup 2021, he has shown pretty much the same colours.
In the tournament so far, Liton has scored 5(7), 6(7), 29(23) and 16(16) against Scotland, Oman, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka respectively. To add to that, he has missed two crucial catches of the set batsmen Charith Asalanka and Bhanuka Rajapaksa, the well-set pair on the crease in today’s game.
Cricket lovers have taken to Social Media to express their frustration over the team’s bowling strategy. Along with that, Liton Das is getting crucified for his two simple catch misses and his position in the team is also being questioned.
In the squad, the only consistent opener is Mohammad Naim who has scored 2 half-centuries in the first 4 matches. On the other hand, both Soumya and Liton have been consistently poor in the recent past as they have scored more than 20 runs only twice in their last 10 innings in T20Is.
The last 10 T20I innings of Liton Das are 16, 29, 6, 5, 10, 6, 15, 33, 1 and 0. He doesn’t have a great strike rate either.
A point to be noted, Afif Hossain has batted several times as an opener in the BPL and domestic T20 cricket. His average strike rate in overall T20 cricket is 155.3, which is 151.6 in Liton's case.
On top of that, Liton has been in terrible form who is finding to get set on the pitch for quite some time. Today’s match has raised questions over his fielding contributions as well.
On the other hand, Afif's effectiveness as a finisher hasn’t helped Bangladesh much so far in the T20 World Cup.
He is a batsman, more known for his ability to build an innings. If he is asked to open the innings, he could face more deliveries, which could ensure a place for Shamim Hossain in the XI as well.
All in all, it’s high time the team management rethink Liton’s position in the playing XI as he seems to be in terrible shape in all possible ways. With that, Afif Hossain can be tried in the opening position as well.