BANGLADESH TOUR OF SRI LANKA, 2025
The Bangladesh T20I captain has not scored a fifty in his last 17 international innings across ODIs and T20Is © BCB
Bangladesh head coach Phil Simmons admitted that T20I captain Litton Kumar Das is short on confidence, and the team is working hard to help him rediscover his form ahead of the second T20I against Sri Lanka in Dambulla on Sunday (July 13). Sri Lanka currently lead the three-match series 1-0, having won the opening T20I by seven wickets.
Litton has not scored a fifty in his last 17 international innings across ODIs and T20Is, with his last half-century in international limited-overs cricket dating back to June 2024. He was left out from the ODI XI after a first-ball duck in the first 50-over match, and managed just six in the first T20I. “I think his confidence is a bit low. We know what he can produce. We are working hard to get him to that stage. Hopefully he can get there in the next match,” Simmons said.
Simmons added that a decision on Jaker Ali, who missed the first T20I due to a quad injury, will be taken closer to the match. It is understood that Jaker was eager to play and might have made the XI had he been allowed to keep wickets, but the team management chose not to take that risk.
“Jaker got injured before the third ODI. We are going to see how he is tonight, and make a decision on his position tomorrow,” said Simmons “We will see what’s happening here tonight. We will see the wicket and make the decision, whether we want to go with the same team or change up things,” said Simmons.
The Bangladesh head coach also defended the decision of going in with four openers in the first match. “People have to look at what’s happening. Jaker was injured, so who else are we going to play there? One of the bowlers? People have to be realistic. We had to play a batsman (in Jaker’s place). Adaptation is a big thing in this format. Players have to adapt. In this format, openers sometimes play at number five or six,” said Simmons.
“The next plan is to do better at the stuff that we weren’t good enough in the last game. We have to get more runs and bowl better in the first six (overs). We need to improve with certain things at certain levels to be competitive with them. That’s what we are looking to do.”
Fitness, repetition behind Sri Lanka’s fielding gains
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka fielding coach Upal Chandana said that as a fielding unit the team is reaping the benefit of repetition. Sri Lanka had been outstanding throughout the series as a fielding unit, which has put additional pressure on Bangladesh.
“If you take from 2023, we had to improve fielding. We analysed and realised that we had to work on a few areas – like we worked on our fitness and we increased repetition,” Chandana said. “Confidence is the key. We do lot of repetitions and players are confident that they can do things now. They hang in the game till the last moment.
“If we used to spend 20 minutes on fielding before, now we spend about 40 minutes on fielding,” Chandana said, adding that pace bowlers’ improvement as fielders has been big plus for Sri Lanka. “Our biggest challenge was getting the best out of our fast bowlers. They worked really hard. That has been a big boost for the team. They are putting their full energy and focus on fielding and that’s one reason why we have done well in fielding.
“We have lot of good fielders. We are progressing as a team. We are in a better position than where we were. That was because of player’s commitment. Fielding is all about attitude. Bowlers can go for runs. Batters can be dismissed for a low score. But fielding, everyone can contribute. We have told them that this is a challenge and that needs to be enjoyed. At the end of the game, players can feel good if they have fielded well and they are all giving their best,” he said.
Chandana said Sri Lanka are playing good cricket at the moment but they are not taking anything for granted. “We had a good game at Pallekele. Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka were awesome for us. They gave us a solid start. As a team, we had a good game across all three disciplines and we are geared up to go ahead of tomorrow’s game. They are a good side and we expect them to fight hard to level the series. We are trying to play better than how we played the last game.”
© Cricbuzz
