Sumon Mustafa: Having failed to perform in the previous two ODIs, Litton Das has been dropped from the squad due to consistent underperformance.
In his place, Zakir Ali has been called up to the team for the third and final match of the ODI series against Sri Lanka, aiming to shine in the T20 format.
Zakir Ali has been called up for the first time in the ODI series. The squad for the match scheduled for March 18 has been announced by the BCB on Saturday, March 16.
Meanwhile, Zakir has already been inducted into the T20 squad awaiting his debut in One Day Internationals. He began his T20 international career for Bangladesh, not the main national team, on October 3, 2023.
He made his international T20 debut against Malaysia in the Asian Games cricket tournament, marking Bangladesh’s entry into international T20 cricket.
Then, on March 4, in the first match of the T20 series against Sri Lanka, Zakir started his international career representing the main national team.
Overall, Zakir has played six T20 internationals representing the national team, scoring 110 runs with an average of 55 and a strike rate of 122.22, including one fifty.
On the other hand, Litton Das has recently faced a severe downturn in form. In his last four ODIs, he managed to score only 7 runs, with innings of 6, 1*, 0, and 0 respectively.
Litton’s last significant performance was seen in an ODI against Afghanistan on February 25, 2022. Despite playing 10 matches since then, he has failed to produce any innings of fifty or more.
Litton had last showcased his century-making ability in ODIs on October 19, 2023, during the World Cup match against India. Despite playing 10 matches thereafter, he hasn’t been able to register a single century. As a top-order batsman, he had been playing for the team without contributing significantly with the bat for the past two years.