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Liton Das is enjoying the form of his life right now. Batting had never seemed to be as easy for any Bangladeshi batter as it is for Liton Das now.
He is now the highest scorer in this calendar year. The most impressive fact is he is bossing every format of cricket right now. It is a rare scenario for Bangladesh cricket.
It looks like finally, he is proving Nazmul Abedin Fahim right when he termed him as ‘Star.’
But this was not something anyone expected even a year ago. After the T20 World Cup, the shouts for him to be dropped from the team were higher than ever. He was even dropped from the T20 series against Pakistan. Then what changed?
In this case, looking at the timeline answers a lot of questions. It is already mentioned that he is the highest run-scorer of this year.
The T20 series against Pakistan was held in November last year. His redemption started after it. Why?
It must be pointed out that whatever his performance was last year, it was opposite to his performance in Test cricket. He was doing consistently good in that format.
He was the top scorer for Bangladesh last year in red-ball cricket, the only Bangladeshi batter to be among the top 10 run-scorers in the world. It is safe to say that performance-wise, Test cricket is his favourite format.
So, going back to our initial discussion. After the T20 series against Pakistan, Bangladesh played 4 Tests within the span of a month. This means Liton got to play 7 innings consecutively in his favourite format within a short time, precisely 1 month.
And the wonders it has done for him are quite visible now. He has scored 1129 runs in 16 games with 4 centuries and 6 half-centuries since then. Also, his confidence, mentality and attitude seem to have risen to another level.
That’s the point of the whole discussion, confidence. Liton Das got the chance to play in his favourite format, in his favourite situation, which is against a relatively old ball.
And eventually, he has regained his confidence. There has been such a positive vibe about his attitude that people are contemplating the option to make him the captain.
His techniques were never in question. He was by far the most classic and stylish batter of Bangladesh cricket.
Everyone thought that he needed a big innings to break the deadlock. Well, he actually needed consecutive big innings. But the deadlock is broken and now it’s his time to rule.