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Litton Das Focuses on India Challenge: ‘Forget Pakistan Series, Rohit Sharma and India Await

Liton Das starred in a historic Test whitewash for Bangladesh as they won a series for the first time in red-ball cricket against Pakistan. He had his innings after Bangladesh made a disastrous start to the second Test in Rawalpindi, struggling at 25/5.

With Bangladesh’s score sliding further to 26/6, Litton shared a record 165-run stand for the seventh wicket with all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz. His 138 off 228 balls, along with Miraz’s 78, rescued Bangladesh and set them up for a total of 262, just 12 runs behind Pakistan’s first-innings score.

This partnership proved to be crucial as Bangladesh’s bowlers then saw off Pakistan in the second innings to win by six wickets and thereby seal a historic series victory.

Yet despite this being a momentous day in the history of Bangladesh cricket, Litton Das is already looking ahead to the next challenge at hand-against India.

“We did well against Pakistan, but that’s over now,” Litton said during a press conference at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. “It’s time to focus on the series coming up against India.

We don’t need to look back too much towards the series against Pakistan. It gave us confidence, but we have to gear up for the bigger challenge now.”

Bangladesh will play a two-match Test series starting on September 19, which will be followed by a three-match T20I series. Pakistan are not alone in their dismal record against India in the format since Bangladesh too have never beaten India in Tests and Litton knows his side faces an uphill task.

“Playing in India is always tough. They are a strong team in their own conditions,” Litton said. “India’s ranking reflects their strength. It will be a challenging series for us.”

More importantly, Bangladesh faces the challenge of adjusting to the SG ball used exclusively in Test matches on Indian soil. Litton indicated that it would be tough getting adjusted to the SG ball from the Kookaburra, more so in playing with an older SG ball.

“Facing the SG ball will be a new challenge for us,” Litton said. “The SG ball behaves differently from the Kookaburra especially when it gets older. We are practicing hard to adapt to it.”

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Litton further added that Test cricket is a lot about winning sessions, which Bangladesh need to do better. “In Test cricket, every session counts. Need to play better the whole game, as in the first session against Pakistan, we didn’t do what we actually could do. Room for improvement is there.”

With the team gearing up for this important series, the onus is on capitalizing on the success and preparing the team for the challenges an upbeat Indian side would come up with.