Demoting Liton to No.3: Manufacturing a new problem

Who is currently Bangladesh’s best opener in Twenty20 cricket?

After the recent dismal performances from the team, some emotional Bangladesh cricket fans may be tempted to answer, ‘No one! All of them are terrible!’

But after the initial outburst, majority of the fans will agree that Bangladesh’s best option at the opening position according to recent form is Liton Das.

Liton’s willow has been churning out runs consistently across all three formats in the running calendar year at a time when the other batters, senior or junior, have found it difficult to string together a few good innings.

The wicketkeeper-batsman is Bangladesh’s highest run-getter in 2022 in Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI), with 659 and 500 runs respectively.

In T20Is, he is in second position with 325 runs, 65 runs behind Afif Hossain, who has played two matches more than Liton.

Liton’s red-hot form with the bat seems like an obvious solution to Bangladesh’s struggles at the top of the order.

However, the Bangladesh team management has gone the exact opposite direction leading up to the ICC Twenty20 World Cup.

In Bangladesh’s last four T20Is, Liton has batted at no.3, crowding the already packed middle-order of the Tigers while creating a massive gap at the opening slot.

The Tigers have tried out eight opening pairs in 14 T20Is so far in 2022.

The management has tried seven players - Liton, Anamul Haque, Munim Shahriar, Parvez Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Sabbir Rahman and Najmul Hossain Shanto – in eight different opening combinations but none of the pairs have managed to impress.

Bangladesh’s highest opening partnership was 37 runs, which was between Liton and Munim against Zimbabwe in Harare on 31 July.

It has been 28 T20Is since Bangladesh had a fifty-run opening partnership in T20Is.

The last one came against New Zealand way back on 3 September, 2021, between Mohammad Naim and Liton.

In 2022, Liton opened the innings in five T20Is, batted at no.3 in six matches and came out to bat at no.4 once against West Indies in July, scoring nine off 14 balls.

During this time, the 27-year-old from Dinajpur averaged 31 runs per innings when opening in T20Is. His average shot down to 24.29 when he batted lower down the order.

Liton’s overall career stats also show that he is at his best in T20Is when he bats as an opener.

Liton’s career strike-rate batting at no.1 or 2 in T20Is is a shade over 132. But as a one-down batter, his strike-rate reduces significantly to 118.53.

Bangladesh’s longstanding problem at the opening position has been caused by the failure to find a stable opening partner for Liton.

How demoting the team’s only consistent opener lower down the order would remedy the problem at the opening position, is beyond comprehension for most.

By making Liton bat at no.3, the management is choosing to not use one of their main batters to his full potential. This move has so far not benefited the team in anyway and it has had an adverse effect on Liton as a batsman as well.

There is a saying made famous by Thomas Bertram Lance, an official of US president Jimmy Carter’s government, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

In the current Bangladesh T20 team, there is a long list of problems that the team’s think tank needs to fix. Liton’s batting position is not one of them. The sooner the management realises that, the better it would be for everyone.