Bangladesh have announced their 15-member ICC t20 World Cup squad today. Three openers – Litton Das, Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Soumya Sarkar – got a place in the team. Although there was a discussion about Anamul Haque Bijoy but he did not get a place in the team in the end.   

Litton has been in poor form for a long time. He failed massively in the recently-concluded Zimbabwe series. Even the way of his dismissal is also bizarre. He scored 1 run and 23 runs, respectively, in the first two matches of the series. He scored 12 runs in the third match. Before the Zimbabwe series, he failed in the Sri Lanka series too.

However, he somehow survived in the World Cup team. Chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu mentioned wicketkeeping as the reason for selecting him in the team.

Lipu said, “The match in which we could not include Litton was the series-deciding match (in the ODI series against Sri Lanka). We had to come to a decision for a particular match. Not just as an opener, his wicketkeeping ability also came into consideration. A wicket-keeper must also be included in the team to replace Litton. A different name might have come if he was considered as an opener only.

“We discussed the name of Anamul Haque Bijoy. But we’re still confident in Litton despite lack of form. We are working with him. The coaching staff tried to restore the confidence of him. It is not possible to say how much is being recovered. However, the coaching staff is trying to improve his ball selection and shot selection.”