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Follow UsThere are only two wicketkeeper-batters who have scored over 1,000 runs and have an average of more than 45 in Test cricket since 2021. These two glovesmen have also got the most number of runs in this period. And guess what? Both of them will be featured in the two-match Test series between India and Bangladesh, starting on September 19 in Chennai.
Rishabh Pant has been one of India’s best batters since his debut but is making his return to Test cricket after almost 20 months. Then there is Litton Das, who has taken his red-ball game to a completely different level in the last few years.
The right-handed batter from Bangladesh made his Test debut in 2015, but it took him four to five years to establish his authority. From 2015 to 2020, Litton featured in 20 Tests and scored 859 runs across 34 innings at an average of 26.03. He only managed five fifties in this time frame.
However, if you look at his numbers since 2021, Litton has amassed 1,796 runs in 40 innings at an average of 46.05, studded with 12 fifties and four tons. No other Bangladesh batter has scored more runs than Litton in this period. Litton and Mushfiqur Rahim are the only Bangladesh batters with an average of more than 45.
1,536 of these 1796 runs have come batting at Nos. 6 and 7. In Tests since 2021, no other batter in world cricket has scored more runs than Litton from these two positions. His average of 49.55 is also the best amongst eight batters, with at least 1,000 runs from the aforementioned batting slots. These numbers are enough to tell you how good he has been for Bangladesh.
What makes his numbers even more special is that Bangladesh’s overall top-seven is averaging 32.7 in this period. And if you take out Litton and Mushfiqur’s numbers from this, the average drops to somewhere around 28. Litton, in particular, has served as Bangladesh’s Crisis Man on many occasions.
Since 2021, Litton has 16 50-plus scores and 11 of those have come after Bangladesh suffered an early collapse or were in dire straits in the match. His very first century (114 vs Pakistan in 2021) came after Bangladesh were reduced to 49/4 in the first innings. The right-hander then scored 114-ball 102 in the second innings of a Christchurch Test against New Zealand, with wickets falling from the other end at regular intervals.
There’s also 141 off 246 against Sri Lanka in Mirpur after his team was struggling at 24/5. That’s not it - 95 vs Zimbabwe in 2021 (in score 107/5), 73 vs India in 2022 (102/5, soon became 113/6), 69 vs West Indies in 2021 (73/4), 59 vs Pakistan in 2021 (43/5), 52 vs Sri Lanka in 2022 (53/5) - Litton has consistently delivered with the bat under pressure.
Now, most of these knocks have ended in the losing cause, but that’s because there wasn't any other help at the other end. However, that wasn’t the case in the recently concluded series in Pakistan, where Bangladesh completed a 2-0 whitewash. This was Bangladesh’s only second overseas Test series win in a series involving two games or more, and unsurprisingly, Litton was one of the major contributors.
In the opening Test, Litton scored 56 runs and put on 114 runs for the fifth wicket with Mushfiqur. Bangladesh were 218/5 in response to Pakistan’s 448/6 (decl) when he walked out to bat, and one more quick wicket could have put them under serious pressure. Litton got to fifty but couldn’t go big. Mushfiqur (191) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (77), however, stuck around for quite a while and took Bangladesh past Pakistan’s first-innings total.
Bangladesh eventually won the first Test by 10 wickets, but many called that win a fluke. The argument became even stronger when Bangladesh were reduced to 26/6 after Pakistan posted a total of 272 in the first innings of the second Test. They were still 236 runs behind, and Litton and Mehidy were the only recognised batters left.
Litton knew just a half-century wouldn’t help and the 29-year-old brought his A-game and added 165 runs for the seventh wicket with Mehidy (78). The latter perished at the score of 191, and that’s when Litton mixed caution with aggression and batted beautifully and smartly with the lower order.
Litton almost single-handedly cut the deficit to just 12 runs, eventually getting for 138 off 238 deliveries. He wasn’t needed in the second innings as Bangladesh emerged victorious by six wickets, but that win wouldn’t have been possible without Litton. It was a historic win for Bangladesh but what stood out was it took Litton only a couple of days to soak all that in and start focusing on the next task, the enormous task - facing India in India.
"We played good cricket against Pakistan but it is already in the past. It is important for us to look forward. I have to take responsibility now. It is the right time. I have been playing for ten years, so there has been some experience,” Litton said.
Talking about his aggressive approach, Litton added, “I try to score off deliveries that I believe are there to hit. Scoring runs is more important these days. I think I bat in the same way that most batters approach the game. If I don't play my shots, the team score won't go anywhere. I want to play like this. I try to play the way I bat in training."
That century in the second Test against Pakistan was important in terms of converting starts into big scores, something he hasn’t done against India. In eight innings against India, Litton has never been dismissed for a score of less than 19 but has managed to cross the 50-run mark only once. That is something he will have to change this time around.
India will have at least three spinners in their line-up, and that is something Litton will have to tackle in the middle-order. He has produced good numbers against spin since 2021, averaging 61.53, with balls per dismissal of 112.5. There are nine batters who have scored at least 900 runs against spin since 2021, and Litton’s average is the fourth-best amongst all.
But taking on Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel in Indian conditions will be a different challenge altogether. Especially Ashwin, who has dismissed him thrice in seven innings. There’s a certain individual named Jasprit Bumrah as well who doesn’t need conditions to stamp his authority, as we saw in the last home series against England.
Litton knows what’s expected of him. The 29-year-old understands he has more responsibility. And, these two Tests will give him a platform to go one step above and write his own legacy.
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